a day ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Alex Padilla's former roommate on who the senator is
'Hands off! I am Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary' California's senior senator asserted, as federal agents roughly forced him out of a briefing room.
On a carpeted hallway in the federal building in Westwood, bulletproof vest-wearing agents thrust the senator to the ground on his stomach and cuffed his hands behind his back. All while a staffer filmed.
'There's no recording allowed out here,' a disembodied voice could be heard repeating, as Padilla's wrists were shoved into the cuffs. Then the image goes dark, as someone — presumably a federal agent — physically blocks the phone camera with his body.
The flabbergasting interaction occurred when Padilla, who had been in the building to receive a military briefing, tried to ask a question, interrupting a press conference held by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Times photographer Luke Johnson was on the scene and captured stunning images.
Within minutes of being filmed, it began ricocheting through social media with white-hot fury. Democratic leaders blasted Padilla's treatment as not just despicable, but also indicative of a turning point.
Padilla is far from a firebrand.
Yes, the Pacoima native has had a dazzling ascent through American politics. But he's known for steady discipline and soft-spoken confidence, rather than bombast and showmanship.
Padilla, the son of a Mexican-born housekeeper and a short-order cook, trained as an engineer at MIT before entering politics in his 20s. He was elected to L.A. City Council at just 26, then became the body's youngest council president two years later and, eventually, California's first Latino senator.
Former Rep. Tony Cárdenas, another Pacoima-bred son of immigrants, has been close to Padilla for decades and the pair shared an apartment together in D.C.
'I always joke with my friends that as roommates, I would say the neighbors probably knew what my voice sounded like, but never Alex's. He's not the kind of person who raised his voice,' Cárdenas said Thursday, speaking by phone from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport as he waited to board a plane back to Los Angeles.
'He doesn't get easily excited at all. He's as cool as they come,' Cárdenas said.
At a news briefing later that day, Mayor Karen Bass expressed astonishment about Padilla's treatment.
'In some instances, there's no words,' Bass said. 'This is a sitting U.S. senator.'
Today's great photo is from Times contributor Michael Owen Baker at a strawberry farm in Ventura County where an eerie silence hangs over fields in the wake of ICE raids.
Julia Wick, staff writerKevinisha Walker, multiplatform editorAndrew Campa, Sunday writerKarim Doumar, head of newsletters
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