Trump officials vow to step up LA crackdown; Democratic US senator dragged away in protest

Hindustan Times

21 hours ago

LOS ANGELES -Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pledged to "liberate" Los Angeles on Thursday at a press conference that was dramatically interrupted when federal agents dragged a Democratic U.S. senator out of the room, forced him to the ground and handcuffed him.
Senator Alex Padilla of California was forcibly ejected after he tried to ask Noem a question during her press conference in Los Angeles, Reuters video showed. Noem said later Padilla had not identified himself as a senator during the scuffle, but the video clearly shows him doing so.
Noem was in the city after days of protests against federal immigration raids by the Trump administration. President Donald Trump, a Republican, has deployed the National Guard and the Marines, despite the objections of the state's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, and other officials, who say the move is unnecessary and illegal.
Trump has defended his decision, saying if he had not done so the city would be in flames. The protests so far have been mostly peaceful, punctuated by incidents of violence and restricted to a few city blocks. The mayor of Los Angeles has also imposed a night-time curfew in parts of the city.
"We're going to stay here and build our operations until we make sure we liberate the city of Los Angeles," Noem said.
In a statement, DHS said U.S. Secret Service agents believed Padilla was an "attacker" who did not comply with orders to back away. Noem and Padilla ended up meeting for 15 minutes to discuss his concerns over the immigration raids, the department said.
The video showed Padilla being forced to lie on the ground in a corridor outside the press conference room by federal agents, who then handcuffed his hands behind his back.
Padilla met with reporters after the incident telling them, "If this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, you can only imagine what they're doing to farmers to cooks to day laborers throughout the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country."
Some 700 U.S. Marines will be on the streets of the city by Thursday or Friday, the military has said, to support up to 4,000 National Guard troops in protecting federal property and federal agents, including on immigration raids.
The state of California is seeking a federal court order on Thursday that would stop troops from "patrolling the streets of Los Angeles" and limit their role to protecting federal personnel and property. California's lawsuit ultimately seeks to rescind Trump's order to deploy the National Guard to the area.
In a court filing on Thursday, California argued that the federal government has already violated the law by having National Guard troops assist immigration agents in raids.
Noem said federal officers have arrested more than 1,500 people and that the department has "tens of thousands of targets" in the region.
She said the Internal Revenue Service was investigating whether there are financial links between the protests and political advocacy groups, something of which there has been little evidence.
LIMITS SOUGHT
Trump is carrying out a campaign promise to deport immigrants, employing forceful tactics consistent with the norm-breaking political style that got him elected twice.
The administration has circulated images showing National Guard troops protecting immigration agents who were arresting suspected illegal migrants - a permissible function for the troops under federal law.
But the state argues those Guard troops have crossed the line into illegal activity under the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the military from participating in civilian law enforcement.
"For example, photos posted on social media by ICE depict heavily armed members of the National Guard standing alongside ICE agents during arrests,' California said in Thursday's court filing.
Unless a judge intervenes, the military's role likely will grow to include "detention, interrogation, and other activities that are practically indistinguishable from urban policing operations," the filing asserts.
The Trump administration said in a Wednesday court filing that the judge should not restrict the military's activities in Los Angeles.
'Neither the National Guard nor the Marines are engaged in law enforcement. Rather, they are protecting law enforcement, consistent with longstanding practice and the inherent protective power to provide for the safety of federal property and personnel,' the administration wrote.
Even as troops guard federal buildings in Los Angeles, Americans will witness U.S. troops and armored vehicles in the nation's capital on Saturday when Trump holds a military parade honoring the Army's 250th birthday in Washington.
Nearly 2,000 protests against the parade, which is taking place on Trump's 79th birthday, are planned around the country in one of the biggest demonstrations against Trump since he returned to power in January.