San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu issued the following statement in response to federal agents accosting and handcuffing California Senator Alex Padilla at a press conference held by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (June 12, 2025) – San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu issued the following statement in response to federal agents accosting and handcuffing California Senator Alex Padilla at a press conference held by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles.
“I know Senator Padilla. He is a decent man of deep integrity who has served his community for decades—a far cry from the convicted felon sitting in the White House.
When a sitting Senator is manhandled, pushed, shoved, and handcuffed for simply asking a question at a press conference, something is gravely wrong.
The treatment he received today is gut wrenching and something none of us ever thought we would see in the United States. These are the actions of an authoritarian dictatorship crushing lawful dissent through force.
The Trump Administration is eroding our country’s laws, democratic norms, and public institutions every single day. They are violating our fundamental rights. They have intentionally unleashed chaos on a major city, putting Americans in harm’s way.
Since the Trump Administration does not seem to understand the law, let me be clear – you cannot arrest people simply because you don’t like them. You cannot arrest people because you don’t want them to ask questions and want to silence them. You cannot arrest people because you don’t agree with them.
I hope that today is a wake up call for this country. If it can happen to the Senator of our nation’s most populous state, it can happen to anyone. This is how a democracy dies.”
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