California Sen. Alex Padilla (D) barging unannounced right into a Division of Homeland Safety press convention to oppose President Trump’s migrant deportations earlier this month was “disgusting,” border czar Tom Homan erupted on a brand new episode of the “Pod Drive One” podcast, out Wednesday.
“He knew precisely [what] he was doing. Yeah, let’s make a scene. Let me get on TV,” Homan fumed to Submit columnist and podcast host Miranda Devine. “Now they’re up in arms. It’s disgusting.”
Throughout a June 12 briefing by Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem on the Los Angeles riots, Padilla burst into the room and commenced shouting at Noem, forcing regulation enforcement officers to restrain him.
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Padilla, who later mentioned he had been searching for solutions in regards to the Trump administration’s “more and more excessive” immigration coverage, was then hauled out of the assembly and handcuffed whereas persevering with to shout “Palms off!”
“I’m Sen. Alex Padilla! I’ve questions for the secretary!” the Democrat yelled earlier than he was shoved exterior and put in handcuffs, viral footage of the scuffle confirmed, earlier than being launched.
Noem additionally met briefly with him following the press convention.
Democrats had been fast to denounce Padilla’s remedy. “That is outrageous, dictatorial, and shameful,” seethed California Governor Gavin Newsom on X.
At the same time as Los Angeles remained underneath riot-induced curfew, lefty Mayor Karen Bass joined in Newsom’s outrage, calling Padilla’s removing “abhorrent” and “outrageous.”
Homan, within the newest “Pod Drive One” episode, mentioned that the Democrats’ response to Padilla butting heads with federal immigration officers, which was repeated days later by New York Metropolis Democratic mayoral candidate Brad Lander, has been vastly overblown and hypocritical.
“They will’t actually sit there and say, ‘OK, I shouldn’t take away legal aliens from america. They’re screaming and yelling about ICE arresting folks … and imposing the regulation,” Homan informed Devine.
“In the meantime, in 4 years underneath Biden,” the border czar added, “intercourse trafficking girls and youngsters skyrocketed. Not a phrase.”
The Biden administration misplaced contact with greater than 300,000 migrant children who had been both presumed to be within the custody of home sponsors or believed to be lacking after failing to present up for immigration court docket hearings, in line with an August 2024 report from the Division of Homeland Safety Workplace of Inspector Basic.
Full episode
1000’s later went to stay with sponsors who had been flagged as potential intercourse traffickers or gang members.
Homan additionally rattled off points that Democrats stored quiet about through the Biden administration — regardless of creating “the most important nationwide safety vulnerability on this nation” by permitting the border to stay open with out attempting to “say a phrase” in regards to the lawlessness that resulted.
“Eighteen hundred gotaways a day, not a phrase; apprehensions climbed over 10,000 a day, not a phrase; over 400 folks on terrorist watchlists cross, they received apprehended, not a phrase; however greater than that, two million gotaways,” the border czar went on.
“Greater than 2 million folks crossed the border. We don’t know who they’re, the place they got here from, why they’re right here, as a result of they received away, not a phrase,” he charged.
“In order that they didn’t care in regards to the authorized course of then, they didn’t care about justification,” added Homan. “Now, of a sudden, [they’re] attempting to implement regulation.”
Within the aftermath of the press convention stunt, Vice President JD Vance accused Padilla of partaking in “pure political theater.”
He additionally referred to the California senator as “Jose” Padilla, an error that the VP’s workplace defined was Vance “combine[ing] up two individuals who have damaged the regulation.”
In an interview with MSNBC, Padilla mentioned that the name-swap was “an indicator of how petty and unserious this administration is.”
He insisted that his stunt was a spontaneous try at congressional oversight and that Noem’s “rhetoric compelled” him to disrupt the briefing.
“I’ll say that individuals have to determine themselves earlier than they begin lunging at folks,” DHS Secretary Noem mentioned of Padilla’s interruption and removing.
Earlier this week, Padilla broke down in tears on the Senate flooring whereas recounting his ejection from the information convention.
