he went there to observe and to ask questions, and i watched with horror on this video seeing these agents grab my colleague, my fellow senator from california, grab him, push him out of the hearing as he was identifying him satisfies a u.s. senator -- satisfying himself as a u.s. senator, bringing him out into the hall way, bringing him down to the ground, bringing his arms behind his badge -- his back. i saw this happen to my colleague. and i am shocked by how far we have descended in the first 140 days of this administration. where we have a president calling out the military over the objection of a governor to try to intimidate and interfere with law enforcement in california, calling out the marines to try to inflame

tensions in our city, and now this latest act when a u.s. senator goes to demand questions about the lawfulness or lawlessness of these actions to see him tackled to the ground, brought to the ground. what is becoming of our demo democracy? are there no limits to what this administration will do? is there no line they will not cross? we see lawlessness after lawlessness. we see threats to judges, of impeachment and of physical harm. we see arrests of members of congress. and now this. all of us have lived as part of a generation, since world war ii, that was used to seeing our freedoms ever expanding. we saw walls coming down. we saw new democracies being born. we came to think that somehow

this was inevitable, like the laws of nature, that it was the moral arc of the universe always benning towards justice, only to see it was not bending towards justice. and to see this now at home, to see it in the united states of ame america, the executive use force like this against a member of a coequal branch of government, to see that it has come to this alr already, and not a peep yet from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle? no whisper of dissent yet? i hope that changes. i hope that changes. the founders separated the powers between the executive and the legislative and the judiciary because they wanted to set ambition against ambition, ambition of one institution against another, to protect all

of our freedom. but that requires that we go beyond our partisan affiliations and when something is wrong, dead wrong, when something is a threat to our democracy, that we call it out regardless of party. and this is wrong. this is wrong. we ask how do you lose a democracy, how does one lose a demo democracy. this is how you lose a dem democracy, actions like today. but even more importantly than what has just happened is what will happen in the next 24 hours. will this be roundly condemned? will this be roundly condemned, or somehow will we just fall down some partisan line again and see another leap towards autocracy in this country? alex padilla is one of the most decent people i know.

one of the most dedicated public servants i know, someone of just the greatest character. we all know him well in this institution. he embodies public service. he never forgot where he came from. he came from very humble origins, and he never forgot where he came from. and the beauty of this country is you can come from a very humble origin and you can end up here. when i first got here, jon tester, a farmer from montana and senator from montana, told me about a conversation he had with john d. rockefeller, when he got here. he said rockefeller told him, you and i came from very different places, but we both ended up here. it's the beauty of america that alex padilla could end up here by dent of his brilliance, his integrity and his compassion, and all of that is at risk, all

of of that is at risk right now if we let the abusive handling of this good man, and so many other good men and women around the country, if we let this go without our firmest opposition, without our strongest pushback, without our strongest defense of our democracy. and with that, i ask the gentleman from new jersey whether he will yield to the gentle woman to my right. mr. booker: i intend to yield -- the presiding officer: excuse me. let me consult the parliamentarian for a second. the ten minutes allotted to the senator under morning business has expired. another senator may seek recognition in his or her own

right. mrs. murray: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i come to the floor this afternoon, to the united states senate, a place where people are elected by their constituents to come here to be their voice, every one of us, republican, democrat, elected by the people who we represent, to come here and be their voice, and to do the job. what is that job? to make sure that we are being their voice and speaking out for them, and part of that has to be asking questions. part of that has to be demanding accountability. that has to be getting information so we can do the best job possible. it is unacceptable that a united states senator, in his own home

state, elected by millions of people, went to ask a question, for his constituents, to get an answer, and was brutally thrown to the ground and handcuffed. that is wrong, and i cannot believe that we don't have senators on both sides of the aisle calling this out as outrageous. this is what a democracy is about, mr. president. mr. president, it is about us coming to the united states senate, speaking out, asking questions, getting information, so we can be their voice. what happens when that voice is stifled? what happens when that voice is thrown to the floor and handcuffed? our democracy is lost. mr. president, i have been here more than 32 years. i have come to this floor often to speak out, to be angry, to be

a voice for my people. i have never come this close to having tears in my eyes, as i speak to both sides of this aisle, about this horrendous incident that occurred. we are a democracy, but we can lose that democracy. it can be gone, unless all of us speak out and forcibly reject what happened to united states senator, and to send the message that in this democracy it is just, it is right, it is part of our responsibility to speak up, to ask questions, and to be able to have the knowledge we need to represent the people that we come here for. we use our voices, mr. president. we use our votes, mr. president. to be a part of this democracy.

not violence. when violence is done by someone representing this administration, in a forceful way, against a united states senator, how does any one of us go home and tell our constituents that they can be part of a democracy, speak out about what they believe in? this is so wrong. this is so wrong. mr. president, i hope others speak up and speak out, and as a voice we say we want our democracy to succeed, and in order to succeed we need to be able to use our voices and to use our votes and to ask questions without being forcibly thrown to the ground, without being arrested by speaking up. i say to the entire country, we have a democracy. we will lose it if we can't use our votes -- voices. we will lose this democracy. none of us should be silent.

none of us. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. mr. murphy: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. murphy: mr. president, this feels like a defining moment for the country, but also for this body. i understand that it may take a few moments for our republican colleagues to watch the full video, to gather some additional facts, to come to a conclusion, but we need our republican colleagues to be on the floor right now with us. this is not simply an assault on senator padilla. this is not an assault on democratic senators. this is an assault on the rule of law. this is an assault on our democracy. ultimately, we are robbing the ability of every single senator to do our job if we are now going to be threatened with

violence when we simply try to stand up for our constituents. now, we all have town halls, and we are all often met with constituents who oppose us, sometimes very vocally, but speaking for myself i don't ask law enforcement to throw my constituents to the ground and violently handcuff them because they have a different opinion from me. you know why i don't do that? because we don't do that in a democracy. we don't do that against ordinary citizens, and we certainly don't allow the administration and the law enforcement that works for the administration to do that to a united states senator. we will enter a banana republic if we don't find a way,

republicans and democrats, to come together around this essential question of protecting our ability, our right as senators to speak up for our constituents. now, i understand that my republican colleagues are going to need some time to gather the facts, but we already have a statement from the department of homeland security that has accused senator padilla of being disres disrespectful, as if that is a rationalization for violence. watch the video. even if you believe that he was disres disrespectful, and given the times that is certainly in the eye of the beholder, that never justifies what we saw on that video, throwing anyone, never mind an elected representative of the people, to the ground to be handcuffed. they say that he didn't identify who he was, and yet watch the video. he clearly states i am senator alex padilla.

they're going to spin this, but i'm begging my republican colleagues, don't let them do it. protect our ability as servants of the people. speak up for the people that we represent. make sure that we do not normalize this kind of violence. simply because the white house doesn't agree with people who dissent. if this is how a united states senator can be treated, then none of us ultimately are immune. if this is how a united states senator can be treated, none of our constituents are safe. this is a test for the country, but this is a test for the united states senate as well. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. kaine: mr. president, two

days from today, june 14, is flag day in the united states. it's the day every year where we celebrate the flag, but it's not the piece of cloth we celebrate. we celebrate core american values, and the most core american value is the one that we take an oath of office to, the constitution of the united states. the constitution includes a bill of rights, and one of the most important pieces of the bill of rights is the first amendment. it was drafted by a virginian, james madison. it talks about the fact that there can't be laws or legal restrictions against the right of the people to peacefully assemble and petition government for redress of grievances. that right is not something we're allowed. that right is something we're

guaranteed. my colleague and our friend, alex padilla, born and raised in los angeles, loves his hometown, an mit educated, baseball-playing engineer, who returned to his home, who served on the los angeles city council and now serves in this body, has some very legitimate questions about why, in an unprecedented way, the national guard and the united states marines have been deployed into his city, over the objections of the mayor, over the observations of the -- the objections of the governor, in an historically unprecedented way and to escalate tensions in his town, rather than to reduce them. so he decided to go to a peaceful public assembly. it was a press conference. it wasn't a private meeting to which he was not allowed

entrance, a press conference's purpose is to share information with the public. my colleague alex padilla, who goes to wednesday prayer breakfast with me every week, with a bipartisan group of colleagues, attended a public event so he could ask a question! about why his hometown was being besieged by marines and national guard over the objection of the mayor and the objection of the governor. his question was a grievance. he doesn't agree with the policies of the administration. he is guaranteed in this document the right to petition government for redress of grievances. as an american, this is what we are supposed to do. the framers of the constitution put this in the first amendment, did it to protect the rights of alex padilla and all of us, but they did it for another reason.

they did it because they believed it would help democracy work better, that democracy works better when people can speak freely. democracy works better when people can profess their religion, when the press can operate freely, and democracy works better when people can gather peacefully and share their dissenting points of view. it makes our democracy work better. make no mistake, the effort to manhandle our colleague, to push him out of the room for asking an inconvenient question, to handcuff him is an attempt to shut him up. it's an attempt to shut everybody up if you have a dissenting view from this administration. that's why the administration has deployed the military in an unprecedented way. they want to intimidate you. they want to make you decide that although you are granted this as a right, they want to make you afraid to exercise the

right. and so as i conclude, i would just say this, on flag day, i would encourage americans of all kinds, find a peaceful assembly on june 14, on flag day, and attend it, and show that you are a brave and patriotic american that embraces the first amendment to the constitution, and you will not allow anyone to intimidate you. i was a missionary in honduras in 1980 and 1981, and it was an authoritarian society, and no one was guaranteed the right to assemble or complain. you might do it and be okay one day. the next day you might be arrested. the next day you might be disappeared or even killed. that's not who we are. we need brave patriotic americans to stand up just as senator padilla has dpon and insist upon their right to

peacefully assemble and present whatever critiques or complaints they have about policies that they find to be objectable. with that, i yield the floor. mr. schatz: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from hive. mr. schatz: i've given a lot of speeches on the floor and this is the least prepared. this is the stuff of dictatorships. it's actually happening. a united states senator was manhandled, shoved to the ground and cuffed. he identified himself. i'm senator alex padilla. that should be enough. that should be enough. a united states senator who is, by the way, protect pd by the speech clause of the united states and a specific statute that allows him to oversee immigration facilities. and he says i'm a senator and i have a question. and to chris murphy's point they

said he was being disrespectful. being disrespectful is legal. being disrespectful is american. being disruptive is okay if it's just using your words and not your body. this is the stuff of dictatorships. and the thing that is making me most terrified is i see zero republicans, except for the presiding officer, in this chamber. and i understand if it's not a member of your own party you want some context. there is no context that justifies this action. alex padilla is not required to be impeccable in every single way in order to exercise his responsibilities as an american and as one of the two that represents california in the united states senate. this is the stuff of dictatorships. one of the officers who throws

him to the ground, as he's clearly complying, cuffs him face down on the carpet, and they sap there's no -- they say there's no recording in here. it's a press conference. it's for recording. they didn't want to hear his speaking. and if the internet has got it accurately, the secretary was there and delivering her remarks within earshot the whole time. she has command authority over those agents who are arresting a leader in the legislative branch. this is not some thing on the internet for us to argue about. we all know what we saw. we all know what we saw. i remain hopeful that leader thune and other republicans can walk us back from the brink, but i am not so sure anymore.

so as trump's department of homeland security raises the stakes and continues with a series of provocations to justify increasingly authoritarian actions, we have two obligations. one is to establish that as a legislative branch we are not going to stand for this. and the other is those people who are peacefully protesting, be very disciplined this weekend. be very peaceful this weekend. if we are going to win, we need to maintain the high ground. and i don't mean we blue, we democrats. i mean we americans who believe in this system of government. i have never ever, other than january 6, been so outraged at the conduct of an administration. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the

senator from new jersey. mr. kim: i have no words to describe just the absurdity of this moment and the dangers to our country and our union. for us to be able to stand here on the floor of the senate, in this chamber that many such important decisions have been made in a place of deliberation is not only in this room that we as senators should be able to voice the concerns that we have about the direction of our country and the problems that our nation faces, that we get to be sworn in as united states senators, that we try to do our best, that we are u.s. senators, united states senators, that we represent this entire nation as a body. and the idea that just, as i just saw the video, one of my colleagues here thrown to the floor, handcuffed, humiliated,

is not a humiliation of that individual senator. it's a humiliation of this body. the shamefulness by which that was perpetrated, that secretary of the department of homeland security, shame upon those that instigated this, that followed through on this. it is something that all of us collectively need to stand against. this isn't about partisanship. it's about what does this institution, what does this body mean and whether or not our words and our actions as dictated by our oath that we swear to the constitution of article 1 as well, that lays out what our job is, that that is very much under threat right

now. and i feel for my colleague. i don't know what is happening right now. i hope that we are able to get greater clarity about that. but what we see and what we saw in that video transpire, i hope that is something that every american in this country sees, that they see the actions that have taken place. and as someone who has worked in other nations, i worked in diplomacy, in national security, i worked in nations with authoritarian leadership, i never thought i would see anything like this here at home. transpire here in the way that we saw it unfold. again, the humiliation befalls on our body as a whole. noup the question is -- now the question is what will the senate do to stand up for ourselves, and that is something that i hope every single senator is thinking about right now. this is not a time to put your

finger up in the air and figure out which way the wind is blowing, to try to think through what type of reaction might come from the white house if we speak out against this. this is a time for us to stand up together and stand up for each other and for this institution. and not just right now. it's about what credibility do we have as a body going forward. and i know, i get it, i'm new here. i'm one of the newer members here. i came here, i wanted to serve in this body because of what it stood for. i wanted to serve in this institution because i believe that this is an institution of incredible honor, integrity. and even at this challenging moment in this country's history, we need this body to be able to come together. so i call on all of my colleagues on both sides of the

aisle to condemn this action, to stand united with one voice, standing up for ourselves. otherwise we will just cast ourselves to the margins of irrelevance of this nation right now. what point is it for us to stand up and show up for work every day if this is the kind of treatment that can befall any of us in this day right now in this country? i am outraged, and i hope others are too. this is not a time to be silent. this is a time for us to be united and show the rest of the country what this institution means. otherwise we might as well go home. i for one want to fight for my colleague, fight for each other, fight for the senate, and fight for our democracy. with that, i yield back. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. kelly: mr. president, i have to say this week stood out for

me personally with some positive notes and some real downers. the week didn't start great. we saw the president of the united states for the first time, i think, in possibly my lifetime send troops without a request from a governor into a state because people are protesting. and, sure, some could make an argument that maybe a few protesters got over somebody's perceived line, but they were largely peaceful protests. and what the president did is beyond his authority. it's illegal. and it was not a good start to the week, i have to say. but, mr. president, i also have to say there were some positive things this week. i got to meet your grandson.

i think he said he was 15 years old. he got to go to the air and space museum, a place that i love, a place that makes our country stand out in the best of ways. shows what we can do when we work together, when we bring the full force of the united states behind doing things that are positive. we send people to the moon in the 1960's. your grandson got to see some of that hardware over at the air and space museum. but i also have to say that the end of this week was rather outrageous and horrific. and it was brought to the american people. i strongly believe because of the attitude of the president and his ability to just work outside of the boundaries of what most americans feel are in accordance with our values and our ethics. what happened today to senator padilla was outrageous.

it was violent. it's a scary thing to see happen in the united states of america. alex padilla is a great guy. he is thoughtful, he is passionate, he is just trying to serve his constituents in the best way he knows how, by doing the thing that is in our constitution. freedom of speech, article 1. by exercising his constitutional rights and his rights as a united states senator, to ask some questions of government officials, he was doing his job. his job is oversight, oversight of the department of homeland security. this is in a federal building. and this didn't happen in isolation. the trump administration has arrested a mayor and a member of congress and a labor leader.

the other day i think, i mentioned the one highlight of this week which was your grand kid, and the low light is besides this at the end of the week is what happened at for the bragg the other day -- at fort bragg the other day. the president of the united states going to a u.s. military base and using soldiers as political props. that is not who we are as a country. and i have to say, mr. president, what i saw is leading us down a dangerous path. and we cannot retreat to partisan corners. senator schatz mentioned, other than you, mr. president, i don't think there are any other republicans showing outrage for one of their colleagues on the other side of the aisle being violently handled by law enforcement.

this is wrong, this is not putting our country first. and i have to say, you know, i hope we can turn things around here in the coming weeks, but in my lifetime, and certainly my time in public office and my time serving this country, i have never seen anything like i have seen this week. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. ms. warren: this is a horrifying moment in our nation's history. today united states senator alex padilla was violently moved from a public briefing for asking questions on behalf of the people he represents. people in california who deserve answers about the brutal

crackdown on protesters. i watched video, as many of you have as well. let me describe what it shows. officers pushed senator padilla backwards out of the room as he said the words, i'm senator padilla, i have questions for the secretary. he was then shoved to the ground. when the senator complied with the officers and went on his knees, he was forcibly pinned on to his stomach, he was ordered to put his hands behind his back. he can be heard on the video saying, he is trying to comply with their orders. officers then put handcuffs on the senator while he was lying on the ground. his staff was then told to stop recording the handcuffing. he was put in handcuffs for asking a simple question. he was put in handcuffs for doing his job as a united states senator. he was put in handcuffs for

standing up for the constitution of the united states. he was put in handcuffs for representing the people of california. now, if you're not yet convinced that president trump and his administration are trying to suppress free speech, then just watch the video. watch the video. if you are not yet convinced that president trump and his administration are trying to undermined the foundations of our democracy, watch the video. if you are not yet convinced that president trump and his administration are hell-bent on punishing people with differing opinions than those of the president, then watch the video. and here's the really chilling part, make no mistake. what happened to senator padilla today is happening every day all

across this country. every day dhs agents are throwing people to the ground and violently handcuffing them while they are not resisting. detaining them for exercising their first amendment rights of free speech. every day donald trump is making this nation look more and more like a fascist state. if this is how federal agents treat a united states senator who peacefully asked questions of this administration, then we all have to ask, how far will they go? how violent will they get? i know my republican colleagues can see what happened today was wrong, but will any republican senator speak up for our democracy? they know senator padilla's character. they know that senator padilla

is a kind man, a man who is concerned for his children, a man who is concerned for his home, a man who has dedicated his life to public service, a man who is a patriot. where are our republican colleagues? where is the republican senate? where are you? stand up and speak out. this is a continuation of what we've been seeing. intimidate every other check on presidential power in this country. fire the civil service, get rid of those people, threaten to imprison judges, criminally charge house members who try to visit an ice facility, arrest certainties who ask -- senators who ask questions. this isn't a drill. this is an assault on our democracy. i am calling on my republican

colleagues to join us in demanding a bipartisan investigation into this incident. what happened at this press conference was disgraceful, it was un-american, and every member of the united states senate should condemn it and condemn it now. mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: i was on my way to the floor to talk about clean energy policy this afternoon, but i have got to join my colleagues in addressing the shocking video out of los angeles. i've now looked at it after following at home senator mr. padilla: was carrying out his responsibilities to conduct over -- senator padilla was

carrying out of his responsibilities. he was pushed to the ground and handcuffed at a press conference held by christie nominee. -- kristi noem. this is not about it happening to a united states are senator. here is what it's about. if they'll do this to a sitting united states senator in front of a room full of media, imagine what is being done to powerless people in secret. in portland, in my hometown, we've had first hand experience with this kind of activity, faceless unidentitiful agents, staring down peaceful protesters. in portland, it was a wall of moms, my neighbors. we all said then it's

un-american, and i say it again this afternoon what we have seen on our screens is un-american. it doesn't have the support of american people for this anti-democratic conduct. i'll close simply by saying this, mr. president. this has got to change. peaceful americans cannot have this kind of abuse rain down on them for the next three and a half years. it has to end now. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. ms. cantwell: mr. president, i come to the floor to join my colleagues to express outrage over the actions taking place in los angeles when our dear colleague, alex padilla, senator padilla was thrown out of an event where he was just simply trying to express his opinion on behalf of the millions of

californians that he represents. it's so interesting to me that this situation happened because not that long ago in the state of washington in olympia, we had a bill signing, and it's no secret in the state of washington that a guy named tim iman is probably the antithesis of what our governor bob ferguson believes. he fights him on all sorts of initiatives to the people on policies that mr. iman wants to express. so he's a noted individual in our state. so mr. iman shows up at a press conference to basically protest a bill that the governor is going to sign. and he gets into the governor's office and he stands right behind our governor. one of our ledparthe legislativ

clerk proceeded to call the roll. -- one of our legislator -- what does our governor do? he turns around, look at mr. iman and says, oh, why are you here? he said i'm here to protest this. and the governor turned around and delivers his remarks. because you know why? because our governor was not afraid of what tim iman said. our governor didn't think you throw him out of the building and he's just a constituent. it's not like he's a state representative. he wasn't elected by the people. our governor is not afraid to let this voice be heard. but somehow ice and homeland security are afraid of the voice of alex padilla. they are afraid of alex padilla's presence in a room.

now how can that be in the united states of america? that a senator elected by the people of a state who simply wants to go to a public meeting and have his voice heard on behalf of his kwebts is hand -- constituents is handcuffed and thrown to the ground. it's not acceptable. our colleagues on the other side of the aisle need to say this is not acceptable. are we trying to freeze the voice of dissent? are we trying to say that we cannot understand what true public policy discourse is about? i think we showed in olympia, washington, that we're big enough to take it. that we know that somebody disagrees with us, we're not going to get them thrown out. and in this case to have a united states senator handcuffed and thrown to the ground is disrespectful. it is an atrocity.

we need to understand how this is happening. and if this administration or this side of the aisle thinks that is the way you treat the voice of a united states senator expressing dissent. i think the -- i thank the president and i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. alsobrooks: mr. president, i stand today and i am shaking i am so angry. i am so enraged with the treatment i witnessed today of my colleague, senator padilla. this is not the america, this is not the america that each of us comes here each day to stand on behalf of. there are some who are saying they don't recognize this america. and i want to ring the bill today for all who are watching, for all who are listening. we have now crossed the line. this is a dangerous day in the history of our country. when a senator who was in a

federal building where he had a right to be to do an oversight responsibility on behalf of the citizens who have elected him to the senate of the united states, and when he was there to carry out his duty. he was there peacefully, and he decided to ask a question. and in donald trump's america, asking a question and pushing back caused him to be manhandled for the whole word to see. manh manhandled, treated like a person who came off the street. the thuggish behavior i saw today is absolutely unacceptable. to put hands on this peaceful man who is not only a senator, he's a father, he's a husband, he's a person, he's a venerable part of our society who was thereby on behalf of the people who elected him. he was treated violently today. you could see his hands up in

the air. you could see his hands up in the air. that was not enough. he was taken to the ground and handcuffed. what was the explanation? it is an explanation anyone would know that it was a full-on lie. that he looked like an attacker. if this doesn't cause every person under the sound of my voice to shutter today, i don't know what to say. today it's senator padilla. tomorrow it could be any one of us. this is not what democracy looks like. this is anything but a democracy. the right to free speech is sacred in our country. the right to free speech is sacred. and today we watched it violated in horrible ways that we will account for. we, as a country, if we continue along this road, i tell you, we will account for it. it was dr. martin luther king who said that the arc of the

mo moral universe is long but it does bend toward justice. this injustice cannot stand. this cannot stand. i tell you, america, let's be careful. we cannot continue along this road. we absolutely cannot. we must continue to encourage and allow free speech. it is the right of every person in this country. today i am sickened and i am angry and something must happen. these people must be held to account for what happened to senator padilla today. i yield. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. ms. blunt rochester: mr. president, you can see and feel and hear the anger, the

disappointment, the concern for the future of our country. senator alex padilla is probably win of the -- probably one of the first people that took time to sit down with me as a freshman senator, to prepare me for this job. he serves this body and his state with intelligence and with grace and with poise. so to see my colleague pushed, manhandled, taken to the ground, arms put behind his back, this person who anyone who meets will say is more of a gentle giant

than someone what deserves that kind of treatment. it blows my mind. i think that's the thing. i am shocked. i am numb. i am angry. and i think part of it is because senator padilla is a senator, but there are people every day, right now across this country who are facing this kind of concern of their treatment of peacefully trying to exhibit the voice of america but also for him, he was just doing his job of oversight. similarly, some of us also have spoken up by demonica macgyver

of new jersey, also doing her job, oversight. if we don't have the ability as senators and congress people, what does that mean for all the citizens of this country? so in this moment, this is a pivotal moment. this is an opportunity for our leadership here in this chamber as well as the other members on democratic side and the republican side to say this is unacceptable. that's really what this is about. when the incident happened, we were all on this floor and i remember seeing the video and the shock that i felt. it literally took my breath away, and i turned it other members on the floor to say, have i seen this? and they had not seen it. i walked across the aisle to my

republican colleagues. they had not seen it. and there was a sense of shock as well. and so what remains to be seen is what we do with that shock. what we do with that indignation. what we do with the fact that alex padilla was doing his job on behalf of his constituents and on behalf of this country. that's what remains to be seen. where do we go from here? and so you have heard folks talk about free speech, peaceful assembly, the ability to do our jobs of over ssight, but ultimately what this is about is about the foundation of this cou country. and so -- i'm just shaking my head. i'm shaking my head, but i'm

also resolute in the fact that we were called here for this moment as bad as they may be, as bad as it may seem. we were called on the this time and the question is, what did we so, mr. president, i ask my colleagues again on both sides of the aisle to speak up against not only this incident but the incidents we are seeing across this country. i ask my colleagues to come together on behalf of not only the american people but the democracy on which this country sta stands. and i will continue to stand with alex padilla. i will continue to stand with those folks around this country who are facing this same kind of unacceptable behavior.

lastly, i would also mention that we do have a role and responsibility. there are three branchs of government. thank god for the courts right now holding it down. but this moment is the moment. there won't be a light switch that says oh, democracy is gone. that's not how it happens. i've heard my good friend chris murphy talk about that, that it's piece by piece, moment by moment. we see it chipped away. well, we have an opportunity and a responsibility to make sure that we do not let this slip away. thank you, mr. president. and i yield back. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware.

mr. coons: mr. president, having just viewed a video of my friend and colleague, senator alex padilla, being manhandled, thrown to the ground and handcuffed after identifying himself as senator alex padilla and attempting to ask a question of the secretary of homeland security, kristi noem, in los angeles, i am shaken. i am angry. and i am gravely concerned about our path forward in this body and our nation. democracy is a gift hard won and hard-earned by the sacrifice of millions who have served, fought, and died, some in moments of tumult and challenge on the beaches of normandey, on the fields of gettysburg. from the very beginning of our nation to this moment, millions of americans have stepped forward and said, i will risk it all so that my children and

those i do not know can live free lives knowing the burdens of tyranny, knowing what it meant to live under the heel of a king, our forefathers risked everything. in nations around the world that i have visited on your behalf as a senator, people yearning for freedom and people recently free have come and spoken about how much the american example means to them. earlier this year, i was at a global security conference concerned about what was happening in our nation about our division and the dialogue, and i heard three young parliamentarians from other countries talk about how hard they were working. part of our job, mr. speaker, as

senators, is to ask hard questions, to pose challenges, is to test the cabinet of the president, to visit federal facilities, to ask questions that are sometimes uncomfortable or unwelcome. just this week i was at three committee hearings and had three members of the cabinet in front of me. did they want to answer my questions? probably not but they did. if a senator of the united states who identifies himself as a senator in at least the video i just saw gets handled this way, gets thrown to the ground and handcuffed, what is happening to those who have no such title or voice? if this gentle and decent and caring man is treated this way, what is happening along the margins and the dark spaces in the places we cannot see? so, mr. president, i call on my

republican friends and colleagues to look hard at this moment and say what comes next, what comes next? are we to be at risk of arrest if we threaten to ask a question or interrupt. our very service as senators -- is the very service as senators hanging in the balance at the moment as we all learn more of the facts of what happened in los angeles, the future of what will happen here in our country and in the world will wait on your answer. was this an overresponse? was this a misuse of force? was this a disrespect of the very senate itself? is this a moment when as our founders who wrote "the federalist papers" dreamed? my colleagues in the senate will show their loyalty to the role, to the check and balance, to the

independence of the senate more than they'll show their loyalty to their party and their president and demand an answer, an apology, and a different path forward? or is this a moment when all of us will watch this video of our friend, a member of the judiciary committee, a representative, a senator of los angeles in the state of california being roughly mishandled and say too bad. at least it wasn't me. if we answer this moment with silence, we will be damned. and our children and the word will -- and the world will say they really didn't mean it. the members of my family who served in the u.s. military knew that typing on that line -- that signing on that line meant being willing to give everything. and i believe and have been told that they understood that service to be in service of

freedom, not in service of any particular president or party, any particular state or moment, but in service of democracy. democracy is a fragile flower. and around the world people look to what we do to know what they should do. there are petty tin-pot dictators, authoritarians and strong men around the world who will watch this video and be encouraged and think this is the way to silence their critics. i can't imagine a member of this chamber who knows alex padilla, who's had the blessing of sitting with him in moments when he's asked questions or engaged in discourse who thinks of him as anything other than a reasoned, reasonable, mild mannered senator. but even if he were not, even if he were outspoken, loud, aggressive, annoying, the title

senator and the role that we have should entitle him to ask a question at a press conference. if the result is this mistreatment, heaven help us all and heaven help our democracy. with that i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the chair recognizes the senator from new jersey. mr. booker: i want to thank the chair. clearly the voices of my colleagues and i are calling this what it is, which is a crossroads for this body. one of our members, it matters not what their party, who was in their state was forcibly removed when he was asking for accountability from the executive branch. he was taken out of that room

forcibly by multiple men who then even when he identified himself, even when he was pulled out of that room, he was then forced to the ground, pushed upon his face, his hands wrenched behind his back, and he was put in restraints. this is a crossroads for this body. this is not a partisan issue. it is one about who we are as a body. will we let the abuses of the executive branch physically take a member of this body and drive them to the ground and put them in restraints? and why? why? well, we are starting to get answers already. here is tricia mcloughlin, who

is the assistant secretary of the department of homeland security. this is her statement. senator padilla chose disrespectful political theater and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his senate security pin on as he, quote, lunged toward secretary noem. he was told repeatedly to back away and did not comply with officers' repeated commands. secret service thought he was an attacker and officers acted appropriately. the statement concludes that secretary noem met with senator padilla afterward and held a 15-minute meeting. we know this is not true because we hear with our own ears on the tape senator padilla identifying himself.

further, disrespectful political theater is not a justification to remove a united states senator in their own state at a public press conference and violently push them out of the room, drive them to the ground, put them on their stomach and handcuff them. disrespectful behavior? this is our democracy. you have a right to speak up. you have a right to free speech. you have a right to stand and do the job that you swore an oath in this chamber to do, to uphold the constitution of the united states of america. and one of your jobs is to provide a check and a balance to the administration. one of your jobs is to give accountability to the administration. now, i know the 100 members -- the other 99 members of this body, and if disrespectful

behavior is a justification for violent reprisal from the administration, how many members of this body, how many members of this body would be subjected to that? this is a farce of a justification, and, therefore, we are at a crossroads. will my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, will my republican colleagues justify the treatment of one of the members of this body, justify the violence against one of the members of this body, justify a member of this body being thrown upon the ground and putting handcuffs for what? for disrespectful behavior. if you think it stops with one, you are inviting it for all because it does not. you are inviting it for every member of this body. if the obama administration or the biden administration said that a senator on the other side of the aisle was being

disrespectful and threw that senator violently onto the ground and put him into handcuffs, this body would be full of my colleagues on the other said of the aisle condemning what the biden justice department or the obama justice department did. this should not be about tribalism. it should be standing up and being a leader in this moment. this is wrong, this violence is wrong. but let me be more personal. i try to understand why this particularly upset me. and i think my colleague from delaware spoke to that because of alex padilla's reputation in this body of being a kind and gentle person. we all know him, the goodness and the decency that he has. he is not one of the louder senators. he is not one of the

performative senators. he has a reputation, as my colleague from delaware said is on both sides of the aisle for being a gentleman. but i think what was really hard for me to see was that a member of this body was driven to his knees and made to kneel before authorities. that's -- that's what got me. i think when i saw him driven to his knees, forcibly something there got me. you see, we know alex padilla's story. it is an unusual story for this body. his family came here as mexican immigrants. his father was a short-order cook. his mother cleaned homes. they did those jobs that don't always come with esteem or respect. they did those jobs and which when people see them, they

sometimes look down on them. they did those jobs that are often margealized despite -- margealized despite -- marginalized despite their dignity. they raised their son to serve. he went to mit. they raised their son to show grit, to work, to rise. they got to watch their son become a city council person. they got to watch their son ascend to be a secretary of state for california. they got to watch their son come to this body. and this son of mexican immigrants, who cleaned homes and served food, this man with equal dignity in this body today was driven violently to his knees, as if made to kneel before the authority of the executive. because he was so-called disrespectful. that should offend the

consciousness not just of the other 99 members of this body. it should offend the conscience of this country because if you can make alex padilla forcibly kneel before this executive, when does it stop? he's a united states senator. and if you can force him to kneel to his knees violently, when does it stop? what did it say to other americans who want to speak up? what does it sty other americans that -- what does it say to other americans who want to exercise their constitutional duel? what does it say to americans who want to peacefully protest? what does it sty other americans from -- say to other americans from humble backgrounds, who know poverty? the when a united states senator who stand up to do his job can be made to heel, driven to his knees, what message does it

send? every body in this body should see that this is a crossroads. they treated a member of the united states senate violently after he identified himself, dragged him out of a room, threw him upon the ground, and put him in handcuffs. every member of this body should object to that. why? because the statement was that he was disrespectful. that is unacceptable. that is offensive. that is un-american. and so why is there silence right now? why aren't my colleagues saying, i don't care if it's a republican, a dearths or an independent -- 0 democrat, or an independent. when you drive man to his knees in the united states of america, that is wrong, that is wrong, that is wrong. this is a test, this is a

crossroads, this is a day in which the character of this body will be defined. alex padilla, a man of infinite deanscy, general ross -- decency, generosity of circuit who if you disagree with him or not, is so well-liked in this body. today in a time of understandable outrage in los angeles went to be with his constituents to get answers. and when he walked into a room, saw a cabinet secretary and raised his voice to ask questions, he was met with violence and heaped upon him indignities. they drove him to his knees and then to his face and they put him in cuffs. well, they didn't assault --

didn't just assault the physical cattle of alex padilla, they did not succeed in assaulting his dignity. i know you rose off that ground with the same dignity before they threw him upon it. what is in question now is the truth of who we are and what we stand for. this is an abuse of power. this is a violent act, unjustifiably taken on a member of this body. the question is, who will we be as a senate? the question is, how will we respond? will we defend this institution or will we yield to the tactics of authoritarian, violent leaders? i see my colleague here from maryland. i -- mr. president, i'd yield the floor. mr. van hollen: mr. president. the presiding officer: the chair recognizes the senator from maryland.

mr. van hollen: mr. president, i thank my friend and colleague from new jersey, and it's hard to contain our emotion appropriately on the senate floor. this is a moment that every american should be outraged about and every american should be angry, and not only angry about what happened to senator padilla but fearful for our democracy because we are at a crossroads when it comes to the rule of law. -- and respect for our democracy and our constitution in the united states of america. i felt compelled to cancel the rest of my meetings this evening to come right here to the floor to join my colleagues in speaking out, not just for a fellow senator but for the future of the rule of law and due process in the united states of america.

i had to rewind that video, like, three or four times to see if this was really happening. and i saw the earlier video come out of him being essentially dragged out of the room, roughed up, and then the other video of him lying on his stomach, handcuffed, with people standing around him. mr. president, then the lies went out. the senator from new jersey just mentioned -- i'm reading this statement from the department of homeland security. senator padilla chose disrespectful political theater, interrupt add live press conference without identifying himself. that's a lifetime -- that's a life. just look at the video. you can see him coming in and saying, i'm senator padilla, the senior senator from california.

he wanted to ask a question. we all have a lot of questions. he's a united states senator. he should be able to ask a question about what's happening in his state of california. you know, we had the president of the united states just a few weeks ago in response to a question say he wasn't sure if he had to comply with the constitution of the united states. the president of the united states, who is sworn to take an oath to uphold the constitution, said he wasn't sure he had to comply with the constitution. you have senior administration officials like steve miller talking about suspending habeas corpus in the united states of america. habeas corpus is the of due process to make sure that people cannot be deprived of their liberty without a fair trial and a fair hearing.

and here we have alex padilla going in to ask a question, and he's tackled, he's roughed up, he's dragged out of the room, he's put on the floor and handcuffed. this is a president who also the other day when asked if he would arrest the governor of california or whether his people should arrest the governor of california, he said, yeah, i think maybe she should'd they should. -- i think maybe they should. think about that. this is an administration that arrested the mayor of a major city. this is lawless behavior from this administration. this is what a dictatorship looks like. this is what happens when one person tries to grab all the power, when they say, i don't know if i have to comply with the constitution of the united

states. the constitution of the united states is designed to have checks and balances. it's designed to make sure that our liberties are protected. the bill of rights protects all of us. and yet you see the president of the united states and his henchmen and his henchwomen trampling over due process, trampling over due process in the country, and trampling on a united states from california who said, madam president, i have a question. i'm looking forward to hearing about what question senator padilla wanted to ask. because i know senator pa deyaks i know he had a -- because i know senator padilla. i know he had a good question to ask the secretary of homeland security. but he didn't get a chance.

this was a press conference. secretary of homeland security is taking questions. the united states senator representing the people that have state, elected to represent the people of that state, he had a question. he ask didn't -- he didn't get to ask it because he was dragged out of room, thrown on the floor and arrested. i want to know what that question is going to be. and i know senator padilla will tell us. we'll probably find out then why the secretary of homeland security didn't want to hear the question. because this administration wants to shut down questions except for from the journalists that they like. they belittle journalists who ask them any question that they see as critical. that's also what authoritarian leaders do. they push aside the people who

ask hard but meaningful questions and just call on the people that will ask them the s slowball question. you've already seen this at play in the oval office, during press conferences that the president has. he goes, oh, i like that reporter. oh, that's a terrible question. what he means is it's a question that he doesn't like usually the questions he doesn't like are questions that are right on target and go to the heart of what's happening in our country. and so, senator padilla had a question. he just didn't get a chance to answer it. i want to build on another point my colleagues have made, and that is a real appeal to our senate republican colleagues. because in these first months,

four, five months of the trump admini administration, we've seen the actions of a lawless president. you know, it's unprecedented in the united states to have over 260 lawsuits filed in federal courts. right? this doesn't happen normally. it's because of the massive law breaking that we've seen going on, attacks on civil liberties, attacks on due process is part of that, attacks on the first amendment, the illegal withholding of funds that have been appropriated by the congress. the courts can't do it alone, colleagues. every member of this body is sworn to uphold the constitution, the constitution the president of the united states now says he's not sure if he has to comply with. i believe senators here want to take those constitutional responsibilities seriously.

but if we're going to do that we have to stand up at moment like this, not democratic senators alone, but republican senators too. because if you let the executive do this to senator alex padilla to today, some other executive, some other president can do it to somebody else tomorrow. if you can do this to senator alex padilla, imagine how vulnerable other citizens and others in this country are to this kind of tyranny and abuse. so, i hope this will be a moment, mr. president, where people come together and stand up and say regardless of policy differences on different issues, we're all here to debate those issues and disagree, but there are some things we should consider fundamental and sacrosanct, and that is the idea

of rule of law and due process, and what we witnessed here was the outrage that he we come to see in countries with authoritarian leaders. that's what we witnessed. and it's a pattern. but today was the most graphic example to date where a united states senator was essentially taken down as he introduced himself, and said, i have a question. so, i have a question for all of our colleagues -- what are we going to do about it? who are we? what do we stand for? are we going to uphold the constitution? so i'm looking forward to hearing the question senator padilla wanted to ask, but i also ask all of us a question, and that is, are we going to use this moment to stand up for decency and to stand up for the fair treatment of every american?

and i yield the floor. mr. murphy: mr. president. the presiding officer: the chair recognizes the senator from connecticut. mr. murphy: thank you, mr. president. i agree with my friend from maryland. this has to be a moment where we drop our political affiliations, where we decide we are americans, that the constitution matters, that dissent defines america, and we say and do the right thing. i think there is still time for our republican colleagues here to speak out. i understand they may still want to collect more facts, but as each minute and each hour passes, it's becoming clear that the main justification seems to be simply that senator padilla was showing some level of disrespect. and the first comments from our

republican colleagues, i think if you're an american who cares about free speech, are really concerning. one of our colleagues in the senate said this, senator padilla has a responsibility to his constituents to show up at work, not to try to make a spectacle of himself. well, that is certainly a legitimate opinion. right? you can criticize any of us for engaging in spectacle, but spectacle is not illegal. raising your voice is not a crime in this country. protesting your government does not, cannot, and should not result in you being delivered to the ground by law enforcement and handcuffed. another of our colleagues says, was he disruptive? well, he got what he wanted.

once again, the standard here seems to be disruption, that if you are speaking truth to power, then you are going to be met by violence. the definition of this country, the fundamental nature of america, is that protest is not met with violence, protest is celebrated in this nation, that what defines america against the rest of the world, against the totality of previous human history is that we protect the right of human beings living in the united states of america to raise protest, loud protests, sometimes disruptive protest against their government. and frankly, we protect that right equally, if it is a united states senator or an ordinary citizen with no formal power.

and so, we can say today, well, this is really dangerous, that a united states senator got thrown to the ground and handcuffed, simply because they spoke up at a press conference, but it is no more concerning that it is happening to a united states citizen than what is happening to many other citizens and residents of this country right now who are being met with equal physical force. we don't expect any different treatment of united states senators than of ordinary citizens. but many ordinary citizens in los angeles right now are being treated with the same kind of force that alex padilla was met with today. and so there is still time for us to come together and say, in this country, speaking truth to power, even in a disruptive way is never rationalization for violence. but i will tell you, the first couple statements from my

republican colleagues are deeply worrying. they misread the fundamental nature of this country. and if we now live in a world where simple disagreement, vocal disag disagreement, where protest with this administration becomes justification for violence, i don't know how you can define that as america any longer. and as someone who was sitting in this chamber, i think this very same desk, on january 6, it shouldn't be lost on us that there are forms of political protest that are protected by this administration, celebrated even, and then there are forms

of political protest, as you saw today, that are met with violence. there are individuals out on the street today in america who just a few years ago were in this building or on the outskirts of this building, beating the hell out of police officers, viciously, savagely attacking police officers, tasers to the throat rendering those police officers unconscious, metal poles being hammered onto the heads of police officers. in an exceptional moment, the president of the united states, in celebration of their violence, pardoned them, put them back out on the street, sending the unequivocal message that if you engage in violent protest on behalf of the white

house, you get out of jail free. pair that together with the message that is being received by the american public, now on a daily basis, most prominently and visibly today, that if you engage in peaceful protest -- senator padilla was asking a question, he identified himself as a united states senator -- of the administration, you will be met by violence. you carry out violence on behalf of the white house, you're excused. you lodge normal, protected protest against this white house, you are thrown to the ground and handcuffed, even if you're a united states senator, though it should not matter. and so, the early reaction here,

it should be chilling. because once this becomes normalized, i don't know how you put it back in the bottle. we shouldn't assume that this democracy survives forever. this is a revolutionary experiment, 250 years in. it's fragile. this idea that we govern ourselves, this idea that we res respect through rule and force of law people who disagree with us. .0001% of humans ever lived under a system like that, in which they decide for themselves the law, their protest, even against the most powerful people in the country, is protected by law. that idea is unnatural, it is in some ways almost destined to fall apart. yet, for 250 years, we have not let it fall apart.

we have decided that our fealty to that idea, of free speech, of protected free speech, even if it rubs up against the ruling elites, the ruling class, the white house, the most powerful people in the country, in an uncomfortable way, will be prot protected. and so, for 250 years we have together, republicans and democrats, decided that that principle of free speech was more important than our political stripes, than loyalty to our party's leader or our party's ideas. and so, at some point tonight a republican has to come down to this floor. at some point this weekend, some of our republican colleagues have to speak out. on behalf of this fundamental american idea, on behalf of the

united states senate, on behalf of our colleague. we can still fight on tax policy and immigration policy. we can have big disagreements about the reconciliation bill. it will not harm my republican colleagues' ability to render arran argument on the things that matter to them. it's okay for us to agree that what happened to alex padilla two hours ago crosses a line. it doesn't compromise my republican colleagues' integrity as republicans to decide that there is still right our wrong, that -- still right or wrong, that not everything is black or white, that two plus two sometimes has to still equal four. what happened to senator padilla should not have happeneded. he identified himself. it's not true that he did not identify himself. what happened to him in the room

is not justifiable, but certainly what happened to him outside the room isn't justifiable. once he was removed from the room, being thrown to the ground as he is identifying himself has a senator, being handcuffed, canned be justified. so we're going to hang around on this floor in the hopes that at some point, somehow -- and i nope not all of our -- and i know not all of our republican colleagues are still in town -- speak up on behalf of this basic premise, this basic idea of america. that even when protest rubs you the wrong way, even when you don't like the form or substance of it, we are no longer the country that we love, the country that we teach our kids about if we don't find a way to come together to object to protests being met with this kind of violence. i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the chair recognizes the senator from california. mr. schiff: mr. president, a little more than a couple hours ago my friend and colleague, senator alex padilla, attended a press conference in a federal building in los angeles, being held by the secretary of homeland security kristi noem. instead of treating him with respect, instead of answering his questions, he was grabbed by her security detail. he was physically forced from the room, forced to the ground, his arms pinned behind his back. this assault is unlike anything i have ever seen, perhaps unlike anyone in this chamber has ever seen and it crystallizes the threat to our country and its democracy. if the administration can so mistreat a member of this body, what can it do to every other

american? what can it do to every other resident of the united states of america? what can it do to you? what can it do to your neighbor and to your community? the abusive treatment of senator alex padilla, however, did not take place in isolation. it took place at a time of heightened tension in los angeles and around the nation. earlier this week i returned from my home in los angeles, a city in which thousands have peacefully protested the administration's harsh immigration policies, and at which the president has ordered the mobilizeization of thousands of national guardsmen and hundreds of marines in order to deal with a few vandals and miscreants that law enforcement was capable of subduing. the question is why. why order in the military if they are not necessary? why order in the military over the objection much local and

state officials? why go to the expense? why go to the trouble? why undertake such an obvious provocation? why in a city of under # 500 scare miles did donald trump -- square miles did donald trump feel it was necessary over the face of a few blocks? these are some of the questions i imagine that alex padilla wanted to ask the secretary of homeland security. but now today we must add one more question. why would they treat senator alex padilla with such forceful and disgraceful disregard, forcing him to the ground? why? and the answer involves failure and distraction and disrespect and disregard. failure of the president's immigration policy, failure of his economic policy, a desire to

distract from these failures, disrespect of our military and its role in civil society and disregard of our democracy and the principles upon which our nation was founded. let's start with failure, the failure of donald trump's immigration policy, the failure in particular of his promise to deport massive numbers of violent criminals, a failure that was inevitable because it was based on a lie, a foundational lie, foundational to his campaign and to his presidency, the original lie of the trump campaign, the one he spoke as he descended the golden escalator in 2015 and suggested to the american people that most of the folks coming to this country as immigrants and migrants were murderers and rapists and violent criminals bent on doing harm to the american people. that nations opened their

prisons and let out their worst offenders so they could come to the united states and wreck our way of life. it was a vindictive lie but a lie that the president hoped he could ride a wave of fear that he could in turn ride into office. the truth of course is the vast number of people coming to this country are peaceful, hardworking people who want nothing more than an opportunity to get ahead, to enjoy a good life and to provide for themselves and for their family. the american people understood this, but they also understood that our border was broken, that our system was chaotic, that the immigration system was itself broken, that asylum places took too long to adjudicate and people waiting lawfully to emigrate should be given priority over those who do not. as president trump promised, his focus would be on the deportation of violent

criminals. but he also promised mass deportations, and the only way to square that conflict between the very specific and the very broad was to go back to that original lie, that all immigrants are violent criminals who mean us harm. if you can make the country believe that, you don't have to be targeted in your immigration raids. you don't have to go through the painstaking work of tracking down people with criminal records who don't want to be found. if you believe that lie that all immigrants are violent criminals, then you can do broad immigration sweeps at restaurants or on farms, in garment factories or high school graduations, in random neighborhoods, and homes, or at the home depot. just go out there and arrest illegal aliens, the president's deputy chief of staff, a frustrated steven miller, demanded. after berating department officials for the slow pace of

their operations. 3,000 arrests a day, the administration insisted on as a new quota, and gone was any pretense of looking for violent offenders. and so the indiscriminate raids and indiscriminate cruelty began to multiply. people picking up, picking up people who show up for immigration appointments or take the oath of citizenship or to take that oath only to deport them. separating fathers from their sons and daughters, mothers from their children, husbands from their wives. a farm worker who worked in the fields for decades, hard work, backbreaking work, work in the heat and the cold, work during a deadly pandemic while others stayed home, work that most u.s. citizens don't want to do and don't want to do, chased through the fields they harvested to be taken away from their families. a mother chased down the street by hooded i.c.e. agents away

from her terrified and screaming teenage daughter. americans did not vote for this, do not want this, and in the midst of this, the american people started to speak out at first in small weighs, in private -- in small ways in private conversations after the deportingations of their nations. then at town halls and in gatherings at their schools. and then as the raids increased in their scope and the scope of their cruelty by taking to the street as is our god-given right and also a right given by our constitution. some of those protests have taken place in los angeles, where angelinos gathered to speak out against these actions, against the separation of families and the injury to our communities and our economy. and in the midst of these protests, some number of

agitators were attracted by the conflict and saw it as an opportunity to vandalize, assault law enforcement and engage in other reprehensible conduct. like moths to a flame, every city has these miscreants, and so does los angeles. they care not about immigration policy or immigrants or migrants who are affected, and our state and local law enforcement are more than capable of dealing with them, and they did. but amidst his failure of economic policies and backlash donald trump saw an opportunity. his tariff wars were not improving our trade with other nations and instead we're prompting the boycott of american goods by close allies like canada and causing layoffs at american ports. higher prices at target and walmart and elsewhere. he had to fend off amazon plants to include a line item for the trump tariff tax on each

transaction, which would have made it even more obvious to the american people that he was betraying the central promise of his campaign to bring prices down when they are going up. and his big, beautiful bill was in trouble. over a big, ugly price tag far from reducing the debt or deficit, the bill was revealed to cost taxpayers a whopping $2.4 trillion added to the national debt. he was borrowing the money from our kids and our grandkids to fund a tax cut for himself and his rich friends. even the world's richest man and heretofore the president's biggest benefactor, elon musk, called the bill a disgusting abomination and made it clear that republicans should be ashamed of voting for it. and the opportunity donald trump saw in all this will failure was

this, call in a distraction, call in the troops, call in the marines not to save a city, but to save himself from drowning in failure. and so he did. 4,000 troops from california's national guard and 700 from the marines, and the reaction in los angeles of course was the one that he desired -- escalation, not de-escalation. more conflict, not less. more chaos and the kind of chaos he thrives on, the kind of chaos where the insurrectionists come president, the man who on his first day pardoned hundreds of criminals who beat police officers, could somehow try to reclaim the the mantle of a law and order president. it has not worked. it will not work. americans have a long memory and will not soon forget the images of january 6, when the president sat calmly in the white house dining room, dining on burgers and fries while our capitol police were under assault.

and the same man who called in the guard to handle a comparatively small number of criminals and vandals in l.a. refused to call in the guard to stop thousands of them from ransacking this capitol. the last time a president called in the national guard over the objection of the governor of a state was in 1965, when the segregationist governor of arkansas ignored a ruling of the supreme court and refused to integrate the schools in that state. lyndon johnson did so to avoid violence and to protect the students trying to attend. those circumstances could not be more different than today, when our president has called in the guard knowing it is more likely to provoke violence than to stop it. we must reject any thinking of our cities as a battle space, that our uniformed military is called upon to dominate a

secretary of defense one said. at home he said we should use our military only when requested to do so on very rare occasions by state governors. those are the words of donald trump's secretary of defense. not pete hegseth of course, not the fox news version of a defense secretary, and not the trump defense secretary before him or the one before that. those were the words of first trump defense secretary james mattis, perhaps the only trump cabinet member in his first term or the present term to leave his office with a stronger reputation than before he arrived. militarizing our response, mattis said, sets up a conflict, a false conflict between the military and civilian society. it erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to

protect and of which they themselves are a part. keeping public order, he said, rests with civilian, state and local leaders who best understand their communities and are answerable to them. in california, we love our national guard. we revere them as we do the marines. the guard is always there when we need them, during fires and floods, after devastating earthquakes. they serve us at home and abroad. always protecting our interests, our lives, our homes, and our freedom. there is a bond between us, a bond of respect, affection, and trust that must not be broken. donald trump does not understand this. he cannot understand it. any more than he can understand why people choose a life of military service. the man who once called soldiers, sailors, marines and

airmen who fight and die on our nation's behalf of suckers and losers could not possibly understand. nor nor does he care about misusing them. his partisan and disrespectful and inflammatory speech at fort bragg makes clear and the come dearing of -- commandeering of a costly parade. the 250th anniversary of the army, an army my father was proud to serve in. we should honor the army. but the celebration of the vanity of a president who does not celebrate the military, but

his control over it, that is not a reason. -- from the raucous and often die have issive nature -- divisive nature. this congress has prohibited the use for domestic law enforcement purposes except for narrow circumstances of rebellion and insurrection. this is vital not only for the protection of the country from a man who would abuse the military to become a king, but also to protect the military from a lack of trust that would accompany its subversion to a partisan end. our country is approaching its 250th birthday. it is worth remembering why we chose to separate ourselves from our british masters. the preamble of the declaration of independence is familiar to us all and its poetic

restoration of truths that are self-evident. but what has been lost to us over time were the long list of grievances set out in that document. grievances that drove the impe thank yous for -- impe thank yous for revolution. it is a history of injuries and usurpations. this is what they wrote. all to have an establishment of a tyranny over these states. the declaration provides in its list of grooechss, quote, he has obstructed the administration of justice. he has erected a multitude of new offices and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, they ee enough. rated. he has made -- tenumerated,

cutting off trade to all parts of the world they objected, and they declared for transporting us from beyond seas, they cited in words all to prescient for today. he has kept among us in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislatures, he has effected to render the military independent of and superior to the civil power all of these grievances so vivid at the time of revolution, our revolution are so vivid today. today they can be instilled into a single image, that of senator alex padilla on the ground, face to the ground and in handcuffs. if you are looking for an image

of our democracy in handcuffs, look no further. america, we have a choice. we can rededicate ourselves to the vision of our founders, one born of struggle against autocracy, which elevated the people over the powerful, that believed we possessed the ability to be self-governored. we can rededicate ourselves to that vision or we can continue to travel down that prescient path of incivility, of division, of right not making right, but of making wrong, a celebration not of self-governance but of destruction. i believe we are a great country. i believe we are a great country

because we have strived to be a great country. i believe in this country because of people like alex padilla, wonderful people, courageous people, patriotic people. the story of alex padilla is a story of all of us. he is a good and decent man. he is a great and capable senator. he deserved better than what he got in that federal building in los angeles. the american people deserve better than what he got in the federal building in los angeles. let us remember ourselves, let us remember who we are. we're the country of jefferson and of lincoln and of washington. we are the country of john lewis been we are the country of

giants. we stand on their shoulders. we owe our life, our liberty, the opportunity to pursue happiness to their brilliant legacy. we have come to the rescue and liberation of other worlds, of other parts of this globe. we have fought for democracy, we have championed democracy and human rights. we believed in treating others as we would treat ourselves. this is who we are. alex padilla face down in a federal building, forced to the ground by -- by agents of the secretary of homeland security. this is not who we are. i can't help but think of the words of my latin wonderful colleague elijah cummings

because they are a potent reminder. we are better than this. we are better than this. we are not a country that sends the marines into a city, not to restore order but to create disorder. we are a better country than that. we are not a country that needs to have a parade honoring our president, to showcase our military might on his birthday. we are a better country than this. there have been giants who have served in our military. there have been giants who served in this body, great people from all different backgrounds. and the strength of this country is that it is still so possible.

if you can come from any beginning and end up here, and we have been a country that has welcomed people from around the world because we have understood. they bring their genius and their work ethic, and their striving with them, and it has lifted our country forward. we have that beautiful statue of liberty not because we disdain immigrants, not because we view them as a threat, but because we celebrate what they have brought to this country. and i think in the last several years we have forgotten who we are. and every now and then we just need to step back from the abyss and remind ourselves of where we came from and that in this -- in

this greatest nation on earth what is possible. i didn't serve with alex padilla in the state legislature and didn't get to serve with him or get to know him well until i came to this body. and i told my colleagues when i got here, you're all wonderful people but nobody -- nobody did better than i did in who i got as my seat mate. and i mean that with all my heart. he is a good and genuine and decent and capable and brilliant man. i'll never forget that image i saw today. because, to me, it's a -- it's the image of what's best in this country being brought to the ground. and so, mr. president, i ask

every member of this body to think about the legacy we've been charged with protecting and what we're going to do from this day forward to make sure that this -- this incredible experiment in self-governance continues than we never see an act like we saw two hours ago take place again in the united states of america. mr. president, i yield back. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. booker: i just want to first thank my colleague from california for stating it so plain about the character of the individual we have talked about. we have justifiable disagreements in this body, we have real debates and arguments in this body, but it has been generations and generations

since there's been violence in this body. i stand with my back towards the chamber where there was a containing sumptner. we have a decorum where we understand that violence is absolutely unacceptable. if there is anybody who is a man who shows that kind of disedis -- decency, alex padilla is one of the people of true character here. i think that's why this has hurt so many of us personally is because of what this breach of this body actually means to all of us. we know the dangers of violence in a democracy, and the insidiousness that violence

presents or that fear of violent reprisal presents. jefferson it so eloquently, when people fear their government, there is tierney, when the -- tyranny, when the government fears its people, there is liberty. what is so disturbing when you see a member of this body thrown to the floor, a knee on his shoulder, arms being wrenched behind him, after he's identified himself as a united states senator, is literally what alex padilla said. i'm going to pull from what i know he's already said publicly, but this is what he also has written privately. alex padilla says, if this is what they do to a senator with a question, imagine what they're

doing to farm workers, day laborers, cooks, and so many other of the nonviolent immigrants they're targeting. you see, alex padilla knows something about this country, which is that we are all, as martin luther king so eloquently wrote in those letters from the birmingham jail, when he was jailed for his nonviolent civil disobedience, what alex padilla knows is what king said so eloquently, that we are all caught in an inhe's sxabl -- that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. that when you have a president that so exceeds his constitutional thoert that he begins to do things to infringe upon the fundamental rights and ste securities of other americans, it's a threat to all americans.

this is why right across the way, i can almost see it looking through these windows, why the supreme court, with nominees from both parties, with three donald trump appointees ruled 1-0 in support of the -- 9-0 in support of the due process rights of someone in our country that was not even a citizen of this nation because of the constitution using the word any persons knowing that if you erode the due process rights of anybody in this nation, it is a threat to the due process rights of everyone in this nation. and justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. understand what we saw today, a united states senator forcibly removed from a room in a federal building, a federal official forcibly removed from a federal building after he identified himself as a united states senator. but after he was out of that building, they did not stop

there. they drove our colleague to his knees and then forcibly shoved him upon his face, wrenched his arms behind him. and alex padilla writes if they do that to me, what are they doing to farm workers and cooks? what are they doing to other people? what does that mean if they're using the violent force of government unjustly against him? this is a breach. this body has not seen such a breach in my lifetime or longer where the executive has treated an honorable member of this body in this way. that should be enough. but our colleague correctly

points out that if we are in an environment where that is happening to a united states senator, what does it say if the government of the united states is unjustly taking violent action against a united states senator, dear god what does it mean for other americans? that's what alex padilla asked today. now, i will tell you this. this is not an isolated incident. that is the challenge. we have already seen the actions taken against a mayor, a local government official who himself was forcibly handcuffed, dragged into a police vehicle, held for hours as a prisoner and then when he finally got before a judge, that judge reprimanded this administration for an abuse of their power.

the violation of the due process rights of individuals going on in this country. seen this with a mayor in america unjustly incarcerated, handcuffed, held. this is the challenge we have in this moment. i love this quote. by my favorite author james baldwin who wrote this letter the night that authorities came and arrested angela davis. he said if they come for you in the morning, then they will come for me at night. if they come for you in the morning, then they will come for me at night. this administration and its abuse of power and the audacity

of handcuffing a violent ly -- assaulting, pushing to his knees and on to his stomach a united states senator, what does that say? we all gather right there as senators to raise our hand and swear our oath to uphold the constitution. but we're not the only ones. members of the supreme court do that. they're not the only ones with members of this body. administrative officials do that as well. we are bound by the laws of this land. and the terrifying thing for every american should be a government that is not restrained by the law, by a government that misuses its power and not just its power, it's power to -- its power to

use violence, unjustly against its citizenry. that's when we slip away if our democratic ideals, from our constitutional principles, and slide towards an authoritarian government that wants to make its people heel before them, kneel before them. that's what i physically saw with my own eyes, a member of this body being driven to his kn knees for asking a question, for standing up to speak truth to power. what was the response? the response was violence. being dragged out of that room. being forced to his nees, being thrown prostrate and being handcuffed. and here is the thing that

frustrates me the most. this is another day where the lead stories will be about the actions of this administration. we've seen a week where it is violating a tradition that's gone back before i was born where the federal government should activate federal troops in a community goes through. in fact, i know the statute, article 10, section 12, 406, that they should go through the governors, work in coordination with them. but, no, this was a provocative incident of moving military troops at the expense of taxpayers into a community where even the leader of the police department says this is wrong. all of this from the beginning of our week to this unprecedented action of violently removing a united states senator from a federal

building, from a room, thrown upon the ground, driven to his knees, and handcuffed. this is all purposefully being done in our country. by a president that has a different view of his authorities as president. that if a judge criticizes him, he believes it is wrong. he drew reprimand from the supreme court for his calling out justices whose opinions he disagrees with. this is a president that doesn't believe in the checks and balances of our constitution, but the frustrating thing about all of this is it is distracting us. this dangerous, violent distraction from the bill that we should be discussing on this floor about the ripping away of health care from millions of

americans, the cutting of food stamps for millions of children, the cutting of services for disabled americans, the cutting of supports for our senior citizens. this monumental moment, the biggest transfer of wealth from working people in america to millionaires and billionaires, this moment that should be dominating our attention and our focus, this imminent bill that's being debated and discussed here in the senate right now that has such an incredible consequence, putting $2.4 trillion more of debt in our country, raising the energy costs on the average american by hundreds of dollars, this bill that would raise the premiums of people in our nation by hundreds of dollars, this bill that merits debate and discussion because it is so violative of our common values, this bill that takes food away

from the hungry, health care away from the sick, that takes working people and makes their challenges harder all to give more tax cuts to billionaires and drives up our deficit by the trillions. that should be the central conversation in our country. but this president almost as if he knows the unpopularity of his bill, the betrayal of his bill is misusing, abusing his powers and trying to change the conversation in the most despicable of ways. abusing his authority, treading on our traditions, violating our constitution, and now perhaps one of the greatest violent assaults on a member of this body by the executive. this is not metaphorical. this is literal. a member of this body after

identifying himself physically and forcibly dragged out of a room in a federal building. then when the doors were closed, you can see it on the camera. the federal government, the executive branch taking a member of this body, a member of the united states senate, a coequal branch of our government and driving that man to his knees, slamming him upon his face, wrenching his arms behind his back. that's what we're talking about in this body right now. this is a dangerous time in america. when the president if the oval office -- from the oval office says almost daringly, do not protest my parade, warns people about protests, and this is the thing that the president of the united states doesn't understand about this country. when a president is violating norms and traditions, violating

our constitution, dissent is not unpatriotic. protest is not un-american. silence is unpatriotic. this is a time where protest is justified. peaceful protest is necessary and vital. this is a time we're speaking up and exercising your constitutional principles like freedom of speech, like freedom of assembly, like the right to petition your government, is demanded by our democracy. when you have a president that so flagrantly violates the checks and balances so much so that there are authorities today kept a senator from stepping forward and asking questions to an executive official and is met

by violence. this is exactly the time that our founders saw that we must stand up and speak up and protest peacefully and let our voices be heard. because silence at a time like this is complicity. and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have to see t this. it doesn't take that much men al acute to understand -- acuity to understand that if this was the biden administration or obama administration, and an official used their security detail to put another person in this body, to put a senator from the other side of the aisle on their knees and in handcuffs, we would see out outrage. this is not about left or right. this is about right or wrong. and today we saw a deep, grave

wrong heaped upon not just this body but as alex padilla wrote so eloquently upon the ideals. because if you could do this to a united states senator, then you can do it to another ame american. mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: i recognize the senator from connecticut mr. murphy: thank you, mr. president. senator booker and i have now spoken several times on the floor. the senator from california has been here multiple times. we are doing so because we saw the look in our colleagues' eye -- colleague's eyes as he was being violently thrown out of that room. we lost contact with his eyes. in the hallway he was being pushed stomach down on to the ground and handcuffed.

one of our colleagues suggested that senator padilla got what he wanted. if you saw in senator padilla's eyes, if you saw in alex' eyes as he was being pulled out of that room, he was coming to register his dissent, his objection to something deeply serious and illegal that was happening in his state. he had a responsibility as a senator to speak truth to power. and so we are here on this floor speaking repeatedly in hopes that at some point some of our republican colleagues, whether here or in other public statements will register some degree of concern for what happened to their colleague. we lose our democracy if we lose our ability to dissent.

in 1722, in a newspaper started in boston by the name of the new england currant, one of the country's first newspapers, a series of essays began to appear that were speaking to some really radical eyes for 1722. this was 20 years before thomas jefferson was born. 50 years before thomas payne wrote common sense. this is 1722. and the author's name is silence dogood. silence dogood writes in the new england courant, whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freedom of speech. a thing terrible to public traders. silence goes on to say, this sacred privilege of free speech

is so essential to free government that the security and prosperity and the freedom of speech always go together. and in those receipt wretched countries where a man cannot call his tongue his own, he can -- this idea that a tyrant must control the freedom of thought, with violence in order to maintain control of the people. the "new england current" was owned by a man named james kirkland. he probably didn't know that silence dogood. that's benjamin franklin writing in 1722, 16 years old.

whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subdoing the freedom of speech. what happened to senator padilla today, it does stand in context. i say again it does matter that on that day in which violence was used against the united states capitol as a means to try to upset our democracy was cheered on by a president who then pardoned those violent rioters. it stands in the context of the arrest of a mayor in new jersey and a congressperson seeking to do normal and regular oversight. it stands in context with the use of the fcc to try to

intimidate and harass news stations that carry coverage unfavorable to the president and stan stands in this context in outlets not having access to the white house because they don't write things that are favorable to the president or use terms that are not favorable to the president. if we lose our democracy, it's not likely that there's going to be this one moment, this one day, this one fight. it won't be like other revolutions where the parliament building gets burned down or a coup occurs. no, it will be that over time the message has been sent that if you speak up against the government, there is a price to be paid, and that price involves violence. but if you use violence on

behalf of the government, it will be excused. and so why we are still on this floor tonight is, sure, we have immense respect for our colleague. and i believe he has respect across the aisle. senator padilla is a descent human servant who doesn't deserve to be treated that way. we're here because he's our friend and our colleague. we are also here because too many in this body take for granted that this democracy is natural, that it is just going to hang around no matter the threats. the effort that this administration is undergoing to excuse and norm l. -- normalize violence when it happens in advancement of the administration's political priorities and then to suppress

nonviolent speech in a multitude of ways when it objects to this administration's priorities, it sends a message to the public about what you can get away with and what you can't get away with. now, i don't think this will be the result. i don't think the american people will be bullied into silence. i do not believe they will watch that clip of alex padilla being forced to the ground and handcuffed and decide to stay home. no, i think, in fact, the opposite will likely happen. i think more americans will be out there protesting this government. i think more americans will decide to be present this weekend, to stand up for the right of free speech. but if that were to be the case, it would be the exception to the historical rule. because in most countries when a

ruler uses violence in order to suppress dissent, it works. people decide that they don't want to risk the fate of alex padilla. they don't want to be on the ground with their hands forced behind them and put into handcuffs. they stay home. and they just let the tyranny wash over their community and their country. we're not there yet. i don't mean to exercise hyperbole. what i seek to say is that we should not take this democracy for granted and that there can be -- history tells us there often is a deep impact when violence is used against those who are protesting the regime. it becomes normalized. and it ends up scaring many

people into a dissent away from civic participation, and that is where our democracy dies. this sacred privilege, the privilege of free speech, the privilege to protest your government, says 16-year-old benjamin franklin, is so essential to free government that the security of prosperity and the freedom of speech always go together. men cannot be prosperous, he says, without having access to the freedom of expression. senator padilla was doing his job. sure, you can decide that he was being disrespectful. that's not illegal. you could decide that he, in the alternative, should have waited until the press conference was

over. but nothing he did warranted the treatment he got. and when you stand it side by side with the pardoning of the january 6 protesters, the attempt to bully the free press into towing the administration's line, the deployment of the national guard and the marines to a protest in california that was largely peaceful and basically just encompassed one or two square blocks, nobody mistakes what that agenda is about. that agenda is about trying to bully the american people into silence. and once again the first several comments from our colleagues justifying the hand cuffing and violence to senator padilla simply because they believe he

was disrespecting paints a really dangerous picture of where we're heading. senator booker is right. the focus should be on the violence that's being done to the american people's health care right now. we're debating a bill right now as we speak to rip health care away from upwards of 15 million americans. that's extraordinary. that's a health care catastrophe. that's not just 15 million people losing their health care. that's hospitals, drug treatment centers, health care clinics shutting down when you pull almost a trillion dollars out of the medicaid system. there's a new budget analysis today that shows that the poorest 30% of the country, 40% of the country will be poorer after this bill passes, just so that the richest 10% or 20% can get a massive new tax cut, in fact, the richest people in this

country will get an average $270,000 tax cut, literally a transfer of wealth were the poorest -- from the poorest people in this country, people wor working minimum-wage jobs are going to be poorer after having passed this bill in order to enrich the people who are doing super-wellcome and we're going to add $3 trillion too the deficit. put it on our kids' credit cards. that's maybe the most unpopular major piece of legislation that has ever come before the united states senate. that's an agenda that you probably can only impose on the nation by force, by force, because if people had the right to protest, if they have the ability to stand up to the most massive transfer of wealth from the poor and the middle class to the rich in the history of the country, it might not pass. that protest movement might be big enough in order to change the minds of enough members of

this body so that that agenda might pass. it may be that that bill is so unpopular that the only way you can get it the to pass is by using violence and the threat of violence to suppress protest and free speech. so we are still here hours after this incident because we care about our colleague, because we believe this is ultimately going to do immense damage to this institution that we love. i've done hard work with many of my republican colleagues. i deeply care about many of my republican colleagues. i don't know all of them well, but i know enough of them to know that there are patriots, there are people who believe that america matters more than our party.

i showed that video to several of my republican colleagues as we were leaving the chamber today. i saw their jaws drop. i know their human reaction to what they saw, but i also know that there is a tendency in this version of the republican party to circle the wagons around one message, that if democrats say "x", then republicans have to say "y." that doesn't have to be the case every time. it just doesn't. there can be true things, and a true thing is this -- that was an excessive, impermissible amount of force that was used on senator padilla today. we can say that together. even if you agree with the president on his decision to deploy the national guard, even if you hate every single one of those protesters, even if you don't like senator padilla, which is hard -- he's a freaking

hard guy not to like -- but even if you believe all those things, you can say that what happened today is not all right. and that the white house should admit that, that there should be an apology, and that there should be protocols set in place to make sure that if a united states senator shows up to a public event -- he didn't bust into a private meeting; this was, like, a press conference designed to be public, to transmit public information. he wanted to transmit public simplifying. maybe you don't like how he did it. but what he did was not illegal. we can decide that those wrong. -- that that's wrong. we can recognize the danger to this concept of free speech, defended in 1722 by a 16-year-old benjamin franklin is serious enough for us to speak together with one voice.

so my republican colleagues may think that we are belaboring the point, but this is an important moment for the senate and for the nation. i yield the floor.

. mr. booker: mr. president. the presiding officer: chair

recognizes the senator from new jersey. mr. booker: i'm grateful for the recognition. i know we have been talking for quite some time about an incident that is unprecedented. i would imagine in generations here that a united states senator today, in a federal building, going to ask questions to a federal official in the executive, is forcibly handled, identified himself as a u.s. senator, then pulled out of the room, doors closed, and then as we saw from another camera forcibly driven to his knees, then thrown upon his face, with his armed wrenched behind him and handcuffed. it is such a breach to have one of our members of this body treated in such a way for, as one of the officials from the department of homeland security says, for being disrespectful and performative. if that is a reason for people to be thrown on the ground, forcibly handcuffed, most of

this body would have had that experience. this is something far more serious, when we see that oversteps of power. now, i have seen this with lamonica mciver doing her oversight authority, being caught up in a storm of officials going to arrest a mayor, who then the judge said clearly was wrongfully arrested. we've seen this in the overstepping of the bounds of proprietary. but this act of violence against a member of this body demands a response. now, we have seen what happens when government uses -- excuse me, abuses their power, when they engage in violent actions against their sit citizenry. indeed, we have seen this in its extreme cases time and time

again throughout our history, unfortunately. in the labor movement, in the suffrage movement, in the civil rights movement. we know that when state officials in alabama met john lewis and marchers across the edmund pettis bridge they were met with such violence, the intention was to suppress our freedoms. we are in a time now where we're seeing protests planned all across the united states of america, hundreds of pro tests coming this weekend. as alex padilla himself asked, if they can do this to a united states senator, what does that say to the average american who wants to exercise their constitutionally protected rights to protest, to petition their government, to speak up? more than this, alex padilla in this body has come in a very unusual way. he is the son of mexican

immigrants. a short order cook and a woman who cleaned homes. in this environment where we have seen our immigration enforcement officials not going after criminals or gang members or people somehow threatening us, but going to separate families, taking away a mother from her children, taking away people dropping off their kids at school, going to work sites or places like home depot where people stand looking for work, going after agricultural workers. this is a moment where we see good-faith people peacefully protesting and having the courage to stand up to the most powerful person in the world, the president of the united states. but yet again, we see an example where that president is willing

to abuse their authority in an act that is ensured -- that is sure to be an attempt at intimidation. if alex padilla, a united states senator, can be dragged from a room in a federal building for asking questions, thrown upon the ground and handcuffed, what does it say to the traditions in our nation that is one of the reasons why we are all here? because our government does have its limits. it's not unchecked power. the president is not the king. insulting him is not a crime. look, i have been disappointed, as i have seen in joint statements and i've seen this in

state of the union addresses, behavior from people that i don't find justifiable within the chamber. i remember when a south carolina congressman heckled the president of the united states. i heard it in one of trump's addresses, people yelling things at the president. is that, in a democracy, sufficient provocation to arrest senators or congress people who are, quote-unquote, disrespectful, as alex padilla was accused of being, as if that's a justification to be thrown upon the ground, violently handcuffed? we have certainly exalted ideals and principles in a democracy. in fact, fundamental to our democracy, written in our founding documents over 200 years old were this ideal of certain inalienable rights to

the people. our bill of rights enshrines, before even the ratification of our constitution by states, it was demanded that we have a bill of rights that guarantees certain principles before a government. our design of our government was to provide checks and balances because of how much our founders feared excesses and abuses of power. these are constitutional principles now that today, in the most dramatic of fashion, are under attack. we as a nation have elevated the ideals of the ability of american citizens to speak truth to power, to protest, to stand peacefully and forcibly in defiance of abuses of power.

and today, in this body of 100, we have seen one of our members, the son of mexican immigrants, the son of a short-order cook and a woman who cleaned houses in the most noble of fashions, who invested themselves in our common dream, who invested themselves in our ideals, who raised an extraordinary young man who has lived his life in service of others, starting in los angeles, starting as a city council person in that very city, a graduate of mit, face an indignity and an assault and violence that should not be tolerated on anybody in this body. that is an executive overreach by the president of the united states. and it is happening within a

pattern of conduct. a mayor in newark arrested, rebuked by a judge that the authorities of the executive were overstepped. lamonica mciver, a congresswoman, brought up on charges as she was caught in a storm of officials rushing to arrest, wrongfully arrest that mayor, who is now suing for that wrongful arrest. we see time and time again a pattern being created of an executive overstepping its authority, and in this case using violence against an american citizen who also happens to be a member of this body, a united states senator. i have strong, strong concerns about the fear and intimidation

that this president seeks to create in our society, the fear and intimidation of a president that seems to equate defiance, dissent, and protest with somehow being unpatriotic or being un-american. while leader after leader in our history says that when there is unjustice, when there are abuses of power, when there is a federal government overstepping its bounds, it is incumbent upon the citizenry of the united states of america not to be complicit, not to be silent, not to do anything. in this nation, we breed strong voices that know that the true checks of the power of the executive are not just the judicial branch and the congress. the true checks on abuses of

power will always be the power of the people. i believe that our founders spoke to this. i believe that there are extraordinary words from our past, and i'd like to read some of them. power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. this is a quote that so guided our s, that the president of the united states is not a king. the great difficulty lies in this, you must first enable the government to stand for justice. in federalist number 51, james madison talked about the urgency of the people to check the power of the executive.

here's jefferson, the abuse of power is not a new thing. it is the consequence of power itself. jefferson suggesting the urgency for us as a citizenry to be vigilant against the abuses of power. as i've said already, the words of jefferson, when the government fears the people, there is liberty. when the people fear the government, there is tyranny. donald trump seems to want to make protestors afraid of him, dissenters afraid of him, those who disagree with him afraid of him. he seems to want to have law firms come to heel because of threats to their financial well-being, wants to make universities come to heel because of their fears of losing federal grants. these are signs not of a healthy democracy, but one under

assault. another quote, emergencies have always been the pretext upon which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded. a president that tries to precipitate a crisis or make people believe that there is a crisis in los angeles, one that they cannot be handled by the local police, the city police, the county police, and in the farce of some serious emergency sends in federal troops. this is a president that is abusing our traditions, and as we saw today a president whose administration, in my lifetime, took the first violent action against a member of this body who was standing up to ask questions. i quote george washington -- if men are to be precluded from

offering their sentiments on a matter, which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences that can invite the consideration of mankind, reason is of no use to us. the freedom of speech may be taken away and dumb and silent we may be led like sheep to slaughter. that's how important our first president thought of as the ability for the people of this country to stand up and speak truth to power, the right to free speech, the right to petition your government, the right to assemble. these are vaunted, sacred principles in this country, and today, if those principles are stripped from a united states senator, in their own state, in a federal building, if a united states senator cannot exercise their right of speech, their right to question their government, the right to provide checks and balances, even after

they've identified themselves they are forcibly removed from a room in that federal building, forced to kneel, then thrown upon their face, then having their arms wrenched behind their back and handcuffed, as alex padilla said, if they are doing that to me, just imagine what they are doing to laborers, and farmworkers, and others who do not have the stature of this office. what will this body do? this is the test before us right now. what will this body do? where are the voices of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle? true tests of leadership are not easy. to stand in a storm, to stand for principle against politics, to stand for patriotism, against

partisanship, to stand up for what is right, that is what this moment calls. for us to normalize what we saw today, normalize a u.s. senator being violently grabbed and hand handcuffed, with no charges, no charges fil if we say nothing now, our silence is complicity in that behavior by the executive. it is an erosion of our democracy, of our principles. i heard the authors of this book "how democracies die," speak with fear and worry about our current state of affairs in

america. and one of the principles that they pointed to, one of the signs that they pointed to about a democracy in peril was vio violence. but it wasn't violence of political sectarian nature. yes, that is part of it. but the worst type of violence that shows the erosion of a democracy is when the state itself uses violence unjustly against its citizenship, against its citizenry. that was the horrors of donald trump pardoning people that beat police officers in this building. the horrors to me was not the presidential pardon power. the horrors to me was that the very people who beat into submission police officers in order to unjustly install a

president, in order to prevent the peaceful transition of power, that very president was saying it's all right. i'm going to call you patriots and absolve you of your convictions by a jury of your peers. some of you who even pled guilty to your crimes, i'm going to say that that is all forgiven. the danger in that is a president saying that if you commit violent acts to my benefit -- in this case to unjustly install me in my position -- then that is okay. it is encouraging violence within our society that erodes our democracy as a whole. this is the crisis we're in. this is a moment that is a test of this body. this is a crossroads in this body. a member of this body in a federal building trying to ask

questions to a federal official after identifying themselves, faced violence from his government that tried to silence him as he tried to ask a question. this is precipitated for us a greater question. are we a vibrant democracy that protects our fundamental rights, that checks power from abuse, that demands that no one is above the law, whether it be any american citizen, and especially those who serve in public office? what will our democracy be tomorrow? will we normalize this kind of violence, this kind of attack on a member of this body by the administration for the sin that they themselves have said is just disrespectful behavior?

asking a question at a press conf conference. this is a day of great challenge and great trial. this is a test of this body. how will we respond in this moment? will this body simply allow the administration to continue in this manner, this pattern and practice that they are establishing where the rights of american citizens to speak truth, to protest, to speak up, to call out, to question, to be in dissent are those sack c--

sacrosant principles? in the deck rarings of independence -- declaration of independence these brave men who saw are the abuses of power of a king, those revolutionaries, those imperfect geniuses who grappled with the great ideals of their time, that set up a nation not ruled by kings and queens, not a theocracy where there is some divine right of someone to rule over us, decided to vest the power in this nation with the people and created a government organized around the principle of the suspicion of concentrations of power and created three branches of government to provide checks and balances, and then gave to the people of the united states of america certain fundamental ri

rights. the first amendments to our constitution enshrining those rights, those rights that have allowed generation after generation to use them to make our nation more perfect, to speak up to the wrongs and the ills of government, to challenge leaders who had gotten corrupt and had gone wrong, generation after generation standing on the principles of our constitution. and here we are in 2025 where those ideals are being tested, where that constitution is being str strained, where a member of this body speaking up and asking questions at a time of trial in his community is not met with answers to his questions but is met with violence. that is wrong. but when wrongs continue, or as

our founders called them usurpations of our inalienable rights, when those go unchecked, when such actions go unanswered, it paves a road towards tyranny. and in our day and age, it is signs of our weakening commitment to democracy. our founders knew something so w well. and as they pledged themselves to break with a king, to break with a central powerful person, to break through a world where you must go before the dear leader and bow in submission, where the vicissitudes and the whims of an individual leader wreak havoc in a community,

those people who broke with that course of human events that established this nation, they knew one thing for sure. that if we were to make this nation work, we had to make an unusual commitment to each o other. they ended that declaration of independence with that commitment. we must mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. there was no honor in what happened to one of our members today when he was taken violently and driven to his knees. there is no honor in what happened today when an american standing up to ask questions to a person in authority was met with violence. there is no honor in what happened today when a member of our body was thrown into hand handcuffs.

there was no honor in that. but where we can show honor, where we can honor our traditions is not being silent in the face of something going wrong. the truth of the matter is our nation has seen wrongs before, but the way we dealt with them is by having others stand up and call them out to help us to correct course. when those marchers were met with violence on the edmund pettus bridge, thatches not the end -- that was not the end of the story. the end of the story happened days later when they made it over that bridge, when they got to their destination, when they presented their grievances to their government, when this body

itself hearing from the people passed new laws and legislations to protect the people and their rights. in this case their voting rights. bad things happen, mistakes are made. power seeks more power. our country is not bereft of demagoguery or hate or powerful people that wanted to suppress dissent, of people who equated opposition with being un-american. we have seen that all. but so far we have seen people in those times having the courage to stand up and stand against it, to call it out, to demand redress, to fight for

justice. this is a moment that demands that tradition. this is a moment that demands not just people on one side of the political aisle. not just one party. it demands us coming together and pledging a deeper, more sacred honor that we will defend this democracy, that we will uphold the constitution and stand together united against anyone, especially using violence, that tries to suppress the fundamental rights of another american, and especially the senior united states senator from the great state of california. mr. president, i yield the floor.

everybody. the leadership we will be better story to know we are directing priorities that benefit the american people. this is a long-time overdue. we just had an important go to work today's passage of this initial rescission package marks a critical step towards a more responsible and transparent government. this was the in the interest of the american taxpayers could

want to thank doge for their heroic efforts. that worked with at this but bus $9.4 billion in unnecessary and wasteful spending at the state department usaid the corporation of public broadcasting which funds go to key -- politically biased media outlets. it's one way they are putting taxpayers dollars to better use but they will will be marked as the days ahead. it helped her democratic colleagues would join us in this important effort. we are trying to ensure every dollar by the government is used efficiently and effectively. rather than expressing concern over the misuse in the spending of funds or democratic colleagues have another idea. they have instead chosen to impose these reforms simply because republicans are leading the charge could go the defense that failed status quo republicans will continue to deliver real and restore fiscal discipline and as i've said many times this administration president trump's leadership

with their puppets in the house and the senate it's about promises made and promises kept. >> did republicans go to far away they treated senator padilla today? and i think the senator's action might view it was wildly inappropriate. everybody can draw their own conclusions. >> t. like people heckling you hear mr. speaker? >> i'm not going to respond to that. i think american people can draw their own conclusions but they saw senator acting like wildly inappropriate and i will lead to -- leave it at that. >> what i saw was agent asking him to the secretary could finish her press conference he refused to break what were they supposed to do they have have to restrain someone who's engaging in that behavior. they look to mother the room.

>> throwing him to the ground facts. >> it's beneath u.s. senator and they are supposed to lead by example and that's not a good example. the democratic party is on the wrong side. they are defending lawbreakers and now they are acting like lawbreakers themselves. that's oversaturated cabinet secretary in a press conference? i beg to differ. [inaudible] >> i have things to say all the time. i'm very consistent with us. i've been trying to do this since i've gotten the gavlin before. when i got here in 2017. i think we should act according according to our offices we have the duty and responsibility to set an example in our actions and i encourage every member of this body to do that in the house and senate. we have to turn the temperature down. we need to be on the side of the

rule of law and law and order and we need to be on the side of calm and not chaos. when members at this way when they push law enforcement agents around and storm cabinet secretaries in a press conference i think it's wildly inappropriate behavior in that sense of him message. this is the senate side issue but i hope that behavior is not repeated. >> all members whether the house or the senate. you are the speaker of the house. >> these are members of congress. >> the senate took its disciplinary actions over there and we did ours here purely of a certain set of measures. it's not my decision to make i'm

not in that chamber but i think it merits immediate attention by other colleagues and i think that behavior at a minimum rises to the level. there needs to be a message sent by the body that is not what we are going to do and that's not how we are going to act. we are going to have branches fighting physically and having senators charging. i hope we will do better but i have to say this is a good day for the house chamber. i expect it will pass through the senate and they i think her one big beautiful bill will be processed and will get it back and get it done. we'll try to meet our july 4 celebration and haven't celebration of independence day and having good legislation passed, i look forward to that. >> at morning.

hope everybody is getting situated. how are we doing? a couple more minutes?

at morning everybody. grateful that you are all here. my name is kristine on and i'm the department home security secretary for president donald j. trump and i'm so thankful to them and women of lone law enforcement who had been working every single day to bring law order and peace back to the citizens of los angeles into the state of california. as you know we have seen this last week some operations that have been working to bring in criminals that have been out on her streets for far too long. our hsi and i.c.e. individuals have been out conducting operations with their government partners to make sure these criminals bad actors murders

datafiles traffickers and drug traffickers are brought in under this administration. i want to thank the men and women of law enforcement. they have been absolute rock stars and what they have done to protect this community i want to name those under the umbrella in our components under the department of homeland security or that has been our i.c.e. officers who have been on the frontlines dealing with these dangerous criminals and hsi and their investigative skill set and tactical teams have been imperative in helping us make sure we are running operations and targeting these bad actors. are federal protective service of some border patrol agents have been partners with us in incredible i think they bring a skill set that has helped us have a whole of government approach under the department of homeland security and that has never happened before. the willingness to do their jobs for this president has allowed them to do has been incredible. what you see standing behind me

are other federal partners federal partners that have come to the table that are here to bring safety and security to the city of los angeles but i want to specifically thank the army and the marines the national guard are soldiers and military men and women who've shown up here to make sure we have security. not only do they protect our country around the world that they are doing it every single day here in the united states of america and as a public service to the people of this country because they took an oath to uphold the law. we have the u.s. attorney here who has been aggressive in making sure we don't pick winners and in this country and the rule of law will be followed and people who break the law and perpetuate violence will be brought to justice. they will be prosecuted and there would be consequences for that kind of activity. the department of justice is here and has a presence in our incident command center in her fbi investigative teams have

been fantastic with her leadership but we also have the irs here helping us track how these follies -- violent protesters are handled and what ngos and unions and individuals may be funding these violent perpetuators in these protests and take people who may want to come and be peaceful but instead turn these into violent activities and go after law enforcement. it's simply not acceptable and i want to make -- thank our u.s. marshals. they've been great in helping us in operations and transportation. as soon as someone is arrested and brought in to incarceration they are transported out and able to face prosecution and the consequences for their crimes but i want people to know all these officers and agencies in our military are here doing this work in these operations that the people across this country are so grateful. they are so grateful that the work that's being done in los angeles and they are setting an example for what is happening across the country and other

cities in putting together a model and a blueprint for how we can continue to work to make every single committed to great again and safe again for our kids and grandkids far into the future. i've been in many different states with all the different components that i've represented over the last four or five days and everywhere i go people stop me inside how everybody is working in los angeles, working to bring safety to those families and protect those small businesses, tell them thank you and tell them god bless you and i hope that they are safe. they have been suffering the people that live here under the policies of governor newsom in the policies of mayor bass and they recognize that the huge service to the people who have to try to raise their families and these agents and law enforcement officers are working to change that and give them an opportunity to be successful and to live the american dream. many officers have been assaulted over the last several days. we did say before that assault

against officers are foreign to present and the situation we have seen it increase even more. it's not acceptable. if you assault a law enforcement officer we will come after you arrest to prosecute and put you way. that's not going to work in and under this administration with president trump's leadership one person is not better than another. just become -- because you are a member of a certain group or not a citizen that doesn't mean you will be protected and not face consequences for the loss of this country. we have a constitution and we follow that constitution and the laws that have been passed higher congress and we will make sure they are equally applied to every single person as it applies under the constitution. here in los angeles but also across the country. as her law enforcement officers have been assaulted they have been assaulted they've been pelted with rocks and bricks in their cars have been set on fire. molotov cocktails have been been used and we have seen people throw bottles and hammers at

them. we have seen that they have been attacked verbally on punched or assaulted and it's just not acceptable. the department of homeland security and the officers and agencies and departments of the military people working on this operation continued to sustain it increase our operations. we are not going away. we are staying here to liberate the city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and this mayor of placed on this country and what they have tried to insert into the city. i want to say thank you do every single person that has been able to do this. also i want to talk specifically to the rioters and the politicians in los angeles. i also want to talk about specifically how many of our i.c.e. agents have been docked

for doing their duty and how they've been targeted and how their families have been put in jeopardy and we are not going to allow that anymore as well. those individuals who are purposively endangering our i.c.e. i.c.e. agents among freshman officers and their families will be prosecuted for what they are doing as far as perpetuating violence on them. i want you to know that the american people are grateful for our law enforcement officers. we will always we will always suspect mm president trump is thankful for their leadership. in fact president trump did colin and i did visit with him today. he visited with all the agencies here this morning and thank them for what they are doing to make sure we are protecting the united states of america but the images we have seen out of los angeles and last several days have simply been un-american in and the violence we have seen perpetuated. assaulting police officers waving foreign flags on american

soil and they have damage public property and destroyed private businesses. we need to make sure we continue to protect the citizens that live here and want them to be safe. let me give you the few examples of those who have been rioting and politicians like gavin newsom and karen bass are defending. an illegal alien committed the mass shooting in 1994 the graduation party if we take up the streets in the illegal alien convicted of assault with attempt to commit map -- put into incarceration and you see her about the individuals brought into the operations we have here but in illegal aliens convicted of cruelty to a child and on and on. those individuals in those criminals are the streets of los angeles because of the activities that have been conducted here in the last several days and will continue to operate for days to come. when these riots began on friday

night federal law enforcement building was surrounded by over 1000 violent rioters and the -- it took the police department tours to respond. we will continue to operate with their federal partners and continue to keep asking the governor and the mayor for their support in their backup in his operations to make sure our law enforcement officers are protected while they do their work. we will protect american cities from lawlessness and we will do what it takes to put american citizens first and have the opportunity to sleep safely in their at night. i want to say god bless all the men and women of our military and all those who have served in our law enforcement agencies and public service he did make great sacrifices away from their homes and families and they do it because they believe in america and they in freedom and law and order and that's what we are doing here today. we will stay until los angeles is once again at peace.

we will turn it over to don lyons from i.c.e.. >> and acting i.c.e. director of the national lieutenant commander for the situation. but to say thank you secretary noem she said the best and there's not much more i can say. with this leadership we can conduct these missions. president trump has her back and we are protecting the american people. i want to thank the people of the ice and the attorneys public counsel. they put their lives on the line every day. you see my fellow agency heads with me and many that are not apparent stage. many in law enforcement to put themselves in harm's way every night since we have been here in los angeles. do we have done is taken a whole of government approach on this mission. there were millions upon millions of people that were let in and turned violent criminals

and terrorists and gang members. the january 20 specifically of focusing gang members human traffickers violent drug dealers and -- secretary brought it up the rhetoric of the elected officials we have heard so much. if i.c.e. had a criminal warrant cities would cooperate with us. he saw the men and women of i.c.e. executing a criminal warrant on the criminal immigration enforcement case and the city turned askance if we had violent protesters. i.c.e. won't be deterred by this. we'll be out there every day. protesters won't block her way because the brave men and women at doj and her their partners of los angeles police department will ensure the handle these

protests and we are out there safely conducting these operations. i'd like to thank the department of defense and national guard who had come here for assistance on that. you know we will prosecute all of these cases. you've highlighted some meeting you see them appear that we have one man from mexico who fled to los angeles for killing a woman and an individual that killed a man during a botched catalytic converter theft case. these aren't the individuals he wanted los angeles or in the united states. i.c.e. will keep doing their job and work to the best of our ability with the doj partners and with the secretary's leadership and u.s. attorney to prosecute these criminals we will continue enforcing immigration mission set president trump in the american people expect us to do.

>> mourning. my name is akil davis and i'm the assistant director in charge of fbi los angeles for the fbi is assisting the department, security immigration enforcement we are one of many field offices doing this nation directed by the attorney general and we are accustomed to providing investigative assistance to law enforcement at all levels on a regular basis. we have agents embedded with our operational teams with dhs. our health varies depending and they let us know moment by moment. we have significant tactical resources throughout her seven counties to assist in support them. that said we find herself defending operations for violent offenders for the fbi has constitutes a protected rights. we investigate civil rights violations on a daily basis and activity kits taking place among righteous protesters as violent.

we will investigate allegations of violence whether its assault on a law enforcement officer civilians looting and arson boxing or damage to public property. please i'm asking the community do not put your life in jeopardy by hurting someone or destroying property. you'll be held accountable by the fbi and it's not worth it. i'd like to highlight two cases for you to show what the fbi's line of decorative and his overall dhs led operation. the fugitive is wanted for the alleged assault of a federal officer in the city of paramount in california and unite for for june 7 at 2025. he allegedly threw rocks at law enforcement vehicles on alondra boulevard. he is 40 years old and weighs 165 pounds. he has a tattoo on his left arm. we have photos of him on

display. he will be caught and when he is he will face statutory maximum penalty of eight years in prison. this is such a priority for united states government that there is a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to his arrest he let me repeat that $50,000 for information leading to his arrest. the second case i'd like to highlight is the subject named alejandro arianna. he was providing mass and facials to violent rioters throughout the week and was arrested by her s.w.a.t. team this morning with the success and appreciation and assistance from united states attorney's office. the case is ongoing arianna is in custody as we speak. if you have information or evidence of a violent act lease either call 1-800-call-fbi visit tips. fbi.gov force and images or video word to our digital tip

line at fbi.govl.a. office assault. thank you and i will now turn it over to the chief of the state border patrol. >> thank you sir. good morning. i'm greg lavina chief of the el centro border patrol sector and lead coordinator for customs and border protection entity here in los angeles. entities include u.s. border patrol office of field operations in cbp air and marine. we have several hundred agents and officers here in los angeles right now as we speak. our primary initiative in los angeles revolves around title title viii united states code but let me say that again title viii united states code is our immigration statute. if you look look behind us at these pictures on the wall immigration is not a victimless

crime. lot of bad people lot of bad things are in our country including los angeles. for customs and border protection that's why we are here right now to remove those bad people and bad things whether it illegal aliens, drugs or otherwise. we are here and we aren't going away. we -- you will see us in los angeles for contingency is in los angeles. we aren't going anywhere soon. as for the violent demonstrators violence will not deter us. i believe we saw the love sending out -- night and paramount and we continue to conduct our patrols as we saw a necessary in the middle of the riots and we will continue to do that from here on out. our out and out law enforcement agencies many of whom you have heard from whether it's hsi tier of fbi atf and all others joined

with us as we conduct a very historic and first time i've seen it in my 30-year career. it's actually breathtaking. many millions of illegal aliens who passed across the border over the past several years it's our job to get them out and that's what we are going to do and that's what we are doing right now. thank you. >> good morning. my name is kenny cooper and special agent in charge of atf l.a. phil division for the department of justice will not be deterred from enforcing this nation's laws. atf is on the ground doing what we do best fighting violent crime and protecting our communities regardless of the environment around us. our agents are trained operate in high threat high tension

situations with federal authorities moving to execute. we support that mission with professionalism, precision. atf stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the federal partners in this whole of government approach. the atf stand shoulder-to-shoulder to carry out our immigration enforcement mission. if a criminal threat intersects with that mission we bring our full capacity to the table. let's be clear obstructing a lawful federal operation especially through violence or threats is not protected activity. it's a crime. and those who cross that line will be held to account. we don't get to pick and choose when to enforce the law. our job is to uphold it always.

atf would continue to pursue violent offenders to support our partners and keep doing the hard work this public demands. thank you. >> so i'm built this daily. i'm here to show our support and our collaboration with the department of homeland security and their mission to protect the american people with immigration enforcement operations specifically at target known criminals which is a primary focus of most of our missions to date. i want to also thank the national guard the military. we have had judicial warrants to do what we did on both friday and saturday. and the amount of resistance and organized agitators that showed up to meet us was overwhelming and we are grateful to the president for deploying the

guard which allowed us to continue our mission undeterred to enforce the laws and to keep our people in our building safe. and that's really important. my office has been aggressive in bringing charges and we have charged several of the weekend who dared to assault their agents. they threw rocks and they threw stones and they were breaking up concrete. it without control and it was violent. some people in the state of california think they will be no consequences for criminal activity and you know that might be true for the state of california but it's not true of the federal government. we will bring charges and you will go to federal prison. this is the federal government. this is not the state government but as the president said we will hit you with a felony. we are committed to that. we are continuing to conduct, looking at hundreds of suspects looking at social media and videos in combing over that stuff for weeks and months with

the fbi and just because you thank you got away with something over the weekend think again. in the few months from now you could get a knock at your jar. anyone who's thinking about showing up to these protest to commit violence i caution you to think again. it's not worth it gratefully charge to individuals yesterday with throwing molotov cocktails at police officers. that's extremely dangerous and could lead to death. they are looking at charges by the federal government more charges to come. i want to reiterate we will be aggressive and we will be swift in their deliverance of justice and i want to thank our partners at the fbi and atf and dhs under agencies for their hard work. they have been working around-the-clock but they are undeterred to make until you they are more committed than ever to delivering on the promise of the president to make america safe again and we need that in california more than anywhere else so with that i think you very much.

and i think you built. i appreciate that and for everyone for their comments. with that we will open up to questions and in kippah specifically with questions that remain on the topic of operations ongoing here in los angeles. do you want to go first? [inaudible] what i would say is i'm not going to telegraph exact numbers and what we are doing with the military. we have several thousand engage in los angeles right now. we are assessing this weekend's threat threat level not just here but cities across the country and predefined assets and using every tool we have in our toolbox and engaging people

pass forces special response teams and people with special gifts and talents where they can contribute this weekend so we can prevent any kind of violence from being perpetuated. >> i would say the president has the right to utilize his authority under the constitution to utilize title x and bring in military and national guard as needed and he will continue to assess that is the prerogative. [inaudible] i had a conversation with the department of defense and ask them to use use the authorities they have in conjunction with the president to make sure there are consequences for people who perpetuate violence. they are being utilized to the fullest extent to which the present wishes to at this point in time and i'm so thankful we have a u.s. attorney at the

department of justice that's going out there prosecuting these crimes as well. that's something that was very different under the biden administration. the game-changer now. it's the rule of law and when people break the law no matter who you are you will be prosecuted and you will be brought to justice. [inaudible] >> i don't even know the senator and he did not request a meeting with mayor to speak with me so when i leave here i will have a conversation with him and look at what his concerns are. i think everybody in america would agree that was inappropriate but if you want a civil discussion with a public official he would reach out and have a conversation.

i know the white house is reached out and had conversations with mayor bass as well. that's what you do to start these conversations and ask for partnership. unfortunately we haven't done that and i'll visit with the senator and figure out what his concerns are and what we can do. what i would say is we have over 1500 people that we have been interdicting with an arresting for different situations and we will continue to build on that. ..

-- some organized crime non-profit funder is deciding that now is the time to send a political message or an agenda. we're going to stay here and build our operations until we make sure that we liberate the city of los angeles. we literally have tens of thousands of targets. there are millions of people who are in this city illegally and we have, i would say, tens of thousands of targets that we'll be going after. remember, this president has repeatedly said that he's going after criminals and the worst of the worst. and we're going after people that are in work sites that are trafficking drugs, that are

trafficking human beings. we're dna testing children. because many times when you see people claiming that their family members are the children they have with them, many times when we're dna testing, they're not. they're peddling our children and they have human slavery going on, child trafficking, pedophilia. we're going after those individuals that we have intelligence on and we will continue to only build on that. and yes, i'm sorry i didn't get you right away. >> there's some rhetoric out there that some of the people who have been detained, arrested are not criminals or do not have criminal history. can you address that? >> there's a lot of rhetoric and a lot of false information and a lot of fake news. so i would appreciate it if you guys would start covering the facts. we'll get you all that information that we possibly can. there may be people that because of the targets that we were out there arresting that were with those individuals, they were collaterals that were spending time with them and all those people will be vetted.

and remembering that if you come into this country illegally, you have committed a crime. when you do that, we have to go through and follow the law and make sure that we're adjudicating that and dealing with that appropriately. the president's targets and priorities are the criminals that have perpetuated violence. but you have the opportunity to self deport. we will buy you a plane ticket, we will give you $1,000 when you land in your home country or if you go home to mexico and then we'll get you scheduled so that you can come back to this country legally. you will have the opportunity to come back to the united states of america. if you don't do that and you wait until we come and arrest you and have to remove you, you will never get the chance to come and live in the united states of america again. the president has been clear on this. i'd encourage you to get on the cbp home app and you can self deport today and we will facilitate that, you can take your entire family with you, people, your loved ones and we'll facilitate you coming to this country correctly. everybody has the opportunity to

do that. if you wait until we have to arrest you, you will never --

member. mr. thune: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of olivia trusty of maryland to be a member of the federal communications commission signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. thune: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to.

mr. thune: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 99. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, federal communications commission, olivia trusty, of maryland, to be a member. mr. thune: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of olivia trusty, of maryland, to be a member of the federal communications commission, signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. thune: mr. president, i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that the senate resume legislative session and be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, i have five requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. thune:

mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on banking, housing and urban affairs be discharged from further consideration of s.1467 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s.1467, a bill to amend the fair credit reporting act, so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged. the senate will proceed to the motion. mr. thune: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to s. res. 278 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution, 278 condemning the attack in boulder, colorado, and expressing support for survivors and their families. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the motion. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening

action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 4:00 p.m. on monday, june 16. that following the prayer and pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak be there for up to ten minutes each. further, notwithstanding rule 22, the cloture motions filed on june 12 ripen at 5:30 p.m. and the senate vote on the motion to invoke cloture on executive calendar number 145, gary andres. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until 4:00

>> in a nation divided, a rare moment of unity. this fall, c-span presents cease fire, where the shouting stops and the conversation begins. one table, two leaders, one goal, to find common ground. this fall, cease fire, on the network that doesn't take sides, only on c-span.