A US senator from California, Alex Padilla has been disgraced by security agents.
He was bundled out of a news conference being held by President Donald Trump’s homeland security chief, Kristi Noem on Thursday.
This is the latest escalation of tensions over controversial immigration arrests.
The lawmaker was pushed and shoved from the room at a federal building in Los Angeles as he tried to ask the security chief about operations that have rocked America’s second largest city.
Two men approached the Senator and grabbed him in front of reporters as he tried to say, “I’m Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary.”
Footage shared on socials by Padilla’s staff outside the room captured when the lawmaker was being pushed to the ground by FBI agents.
Later on, the Department of Homeland Security came out to say that the lawmaker had lunged on the security chief.
According to them, the lawmaker showed no respect in an attempt to interrupt a live press conference.
The Assistant Secretary, Trisha McLaughlin, writing on social media, said that Senator Padilla failed to follow the strict security guidelines which include introducing himself and having his Senate security pin on.
She said the lawmaker “lunged toward Secretary Noem.”
Defending the FBI’s action, McLaughlin added that the Secret Service thought the Senator was an attacker and swung into action immediately.
However, she said that after the incident, the Senator and the security chief met for 15 minutes.
According to Noem, the Senator’s interruption of the press briefing was, “inappropriate” adding that there was no time he requested a meeting with her.
Meanwhile, the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has reacted to the incident
The Governor described the treatment of the Senator as “outrageous, dictatorial and shameful.”
He blamed President Donald Trump, saying the President and his security agents who he described as “shock troops” are out of control, adding “This must end now.”
