Until a few days ago, most Americans probably had never heard the name Alex Padilla. The 52-year-old Democrat, who serves as California¡¯s senior U.S. senator, is about as mild-mannered and low-key as politicians come. But then federal agents decided to drag him from a news conference in Los Angeles, shoving him to the ground and handcuffing him, all for having the temerity to ask a question of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
¡°If this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question,¡± an emotional Padilla told reporters on Thursday in a clip that has since gone viral, ¡°you can only imagine what they¡¯re doing to farmworkers, to cooks, to day laborers out in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country.¡±
Now Padilla, whose parents came to the U.S. as undocumented immigrants from Mexico, is being lauded as a hero. And the policy views he has long held about creating more protections and pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants are now being heard by more Americans.
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