After being forcefully removed and put in handcuffs last month at a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) press conference, Senator Alex Padilla has introduced a new immigration enforcement transparency bill.
The Democratic U.S. senator, one of two representing California, recounted the June 12 incident at a Monday, July 14 American Community Media (ACoM) briefing: “When I was simply trying to ask a question at a press conference, I was not just physically forced out of the room, but put on the ground and handcuffed without any explanation,” he explained, “and repeatedly asking: ‘Why am I being detained?’ with no answer.”
Padilla, California’s first Latino elected to the US Senate, interrupted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as she was giving remarks in the Los Angeles FBI headquarters on the administration’s response to the protests in that city against Noem’s agency and its immigration-enforcement efforts. The senator had been in the federal building for a separate briefing when he learned of the press conference.
Addressing approximately 70 reporters, he continued: “If this is how this administration responds to a United States senator who wants to ask a question to try to shed light, try to get truth, try to get information as to what’s going on, then we can only imagine what they’re willing to do and what they are doing to so many people in all corners of the country … We hear what they say about protesters, we hear what they say about migrants, about any community of color or anybody willing to disagree with them on policy.”
Noem said the U.S. Secret Service “thought he was an attacker and officers acted appropriately.” “I wish that he had reached out and identified himself and let us know who he was and that he wanted to talk. His approach was something that I don’t think was appropriate,” she said.
California has been a hotbed for ICE arrests, legal and illegal attacks from the government, and for protests. But after the recent incident of ICE and military personnel surrounding Macarthur Park as a show of force, elected California officials have had enough. Padilla has introduced the Visible Identification Standards for Immigration-Based Law Enforcement (VISIBLE) Act.
The bill would require immigration enforcement personnel — including DHS agents, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and federal, state, or local officers detailed or deputized for immigration operations — to display visible identification during public-facing activities. This includes their agency name or initials and either their name or badge number.
The bill would also ban non-medical face coverings like masks or balaclavas, with exceptions for environmental hazards or covert operations; require DHS to establish disciplinary procedures for violations; require annual DHS compliance reporting to Congress; and channel complaint investigation through the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Democratic attorney generals have also brought this matter to Congress, arguing that groups of people have used masks to impersonate ICE agents.
“No one should have to wake up one morning and fear that masked strangers are kidnaping them,” explained Padilla, adding that one reason he introduced the VISIBLE Act is that “there’s reported instances, not just in California, but across the country, of people impersonating ICE officers, which is very easy to do when ICE is not required to identify themselves on their body, on their uniform, when they’re allowed to mask up, drive unmarked vehicles.” Federal authorities say U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents need to conceal their identities to protect their families from retaliation as they execute President Donald Trump’s orders to conduct the largest mass deportation in history.
“In the short term, know your rights. Regardless of immigration status, everybody has due process rights in the United States. This administration has tried not to respect those rights,” said Padilla. It’s part of our job to hold the administration accountable, to make sure people have those due process rights recognized and respected.”
“In the longer term, we can’t lose faith. This country and our democracy are worth fighting for. That’s why I do what I do,” he continued, encouraging Americans to prepare themselves for the midterm elections.
