Tag Archives: Kristi Noem

Atlantic Daily: Handcuffing a U.S. Senator Is a Warning

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The treatment of Alex Padilla is part of a pattern of harassing Donald Trump’s opposition.

Like knowing the names of lots of federal judges, widespread familiarity with specific theories of authoritarian rule is not generally a hallmark of a healthy society. But as the United States’ vital signs get more dire, Steven Levitsky’s and Lucan A. Way’s concept of “competitive authoritarianism” feels unsettlingly relevant.

The idea came to mind again when federal officers manhandled and then handcuffed Senator Alex Padilla, a California Democrat, yesterday as he tried to ask a question of Kristi Noem, the secretary of Homeland Security, at a press conference in Los Angeles.

Because it took place at a media event, the incident was recorded clearly on video, and it’s shocking. Nearly as disturbing as the footage is the fact that even though the incident is on tape, the Trump administration attempted to lie baldly about what happened. Officials said Padilla never identified himself as a senator and that security personnel thought he was an attacker; video shows him audibly identifying himself and wearing a U.S. Senate shirt. They said he lunged at Noem; video shows nothing of the sort. (If only Noem’s security detail had been so vigilant when her purse was stolen in April.)

…

Handcuffing a U.S. Senator Is a Warning
The treatment of Alex Padilla is part of a pattern of harassing Donald Trump’s opposition.

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2025/06/alex-padilla-noem-dhs-handcuff-authoritarianism/683176

Reason: Police Target Dozens of Reporters During L.A. Anti-ICE Protests

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Dozens of journalists have been assaulted and injured by federal and local law enforcement in Los Angeles during protests earlier this week against Donald Trump’s mass deportation program.

Press freedom groups are demanding that law enforcement stop targeting reporters covering the L.A. protests after on-air news broadcasts and cellphone video showed federal, state, and local police firing indiscriminately on crowds with pepper balls, rubber bullets, and other so-called less-than-lethal ammunition, while in other cases officers are seen firing on clearly identified members of the press.

A coalition of 28 groups including the Los Angeles Press Club, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and the American Civil Liberties Union, sent a letter to Department Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Monday “to express alarm” over the incidents and urge Noem to ensure that federal law enforcement officers uphold the First Amendment.

According to the groups, there were at least 24 documented instances of journalists being targeted by law enforcement while covering Los Angeles protests between June 6 and June 8.

“A number of reports suggest that federal officers have indiscriminately used force or deployed munitions such as tear gas or pepper balls that caused significant injuries to journalists,” the letter said. “In some cases, federal officers appear to have deliberately targeted journalists who were doing nothing more than their job covering the news.”

Police target dozens of reporters during L.A. anti-ICE protests
Dozens of journalists have been assaulted and injured by federal and local law enforcement in Los Angeles during protests earlier this week against Donald

https://reason.com/2025/06/12/police-target-dozens-of-reporters-during-l-a-anti-ice-protests

Deadline: Trump Regains Control Of Troops In L.A. From Newsom Thanks To Appeals Court; Governor Was To Take Command Of National Guard On Friday – Updated

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Gavin Newsom’s renewed control of the California National Guard didn’t last more than a few hours thanks to a federal appeals court.

“The request for an administrative stay is GRANTED,” the court wrote in a short order tonight after the White House and DOJ came up short this afternoon in their bid to maintain a hold on the unrequested and widely seen as unnecassary troop deployment. “The district court’s June 12 temporary restraining order is temporarily stayed pending further order,” a three-judge panel of two Trump appointees and one Joe Biden appointee said.

All of which has put the brakes on returning control of the Guard that Trump federalized on June 7 to Gov. Newsom at noon on June 13. It gives Trump at least one more hot weekend to inflame the situation on the ground in L.A. with more immigration enforcement raids. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals trio has now set a June 17 Zoom hearing on the matter.

Newsom Beats Trump As Court Curtails POTUS’ “Illegal” Use Of Troops In L.A.
POTUS just took a hit in his battle with the Governor of California for the streets of LA & troops being there

https://deadline.com/2025/06/trump-court-ruling-troops-la-newsom-1236432420

FBI Thugs Rough Up U.S. Senator Alex Padilla After He Dared To Ask A Question

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NBC News: Sen. Alex Padilla is forcibly removed from DHS Secretary Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem’s news conference in Los Angeles

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[Bimbo #2] Noem was in L.A. to address the ongoing protests against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. Federal agents handcuffed Padilla after his removal.

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., was forcibly removed from a news conference in Los Angeles on Thursday after he tried to question Homeland Security Secretary Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem during a media event related to immigration.

“I am Sen. Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary,” Padilla told [Bimbo #2] Noem, which prompted several men dressed in plainclothes to push him out of the room. A top FBI official later said bureau personnel and Secret Service agents were involved in his removal.

Padilla’s office shared a video of the incident with NBC News. The video shows Padilla being taken into a hallway outside and pushed face forward onto the ground as officers with FBI-identifying vests tell him to put his hands behind his back. The officers then handcuff him.

…

Padilla to reporters later Thursday that he was waiting for a scheduled briefing from military officials when he learned [Bimbo #2] Noem was in the same building and decided to join her briefing.

“I was there peacefully,” he said. “At one point, I had a question, and so I began to ask a question. I was almost immediately forcibly removed from the room, I was forced to the ground, and I was handcuffed.”

Like everything else that spews out of her mouth, Bimbo #2 Noem lied; He had clearly identified himself, and Bimbo #2 Noem had met with him previously on several occasions:

Bimbo #2 Noem offered a different account in an interview on Fox News in which she falsely said Padilla did not identify himself before he was forced out.

And a summary from Senator Padilla:

“If this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question, if this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, you can only imagine what they’re doing to farmworkers, to cooks, to day laborers out in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country,” he said.

Sen. Alex Padilla is forcibly removed from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s news conference in Los Angeles
Noem was in L.A. to address the ongoing protests against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. Federal agents handcuffed Padilla after his removal.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/rcna212688

Tampa Free Press: DHS Takes Stand In LA: [Bimbo #2] Noem Vows To Crush Anti-ICE Protests, End “Socialist” Rule

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In a significant revelation, Secretary [Bimbo #2] Noem announced that the Department of Justice, the DEA, and the FBI, along with their investigative teams, are working with the IRS to track the funding of these protests.

“The IRS here that’s helping us track how these violent protesters are funded, what NGOs out there, what unions, what other individuals may be funding these violent perpetrators that are in these protests,” she stated, asserting that such activities turn otherwise peaceful demonstrations into “very violent activities that go after law enforcement that’s just simply not acceptable.”

The bimbo bitch is out to lunch. The courts have held that financial donations are a matter of free speech. Just as F’Elon Must can donate hundreds of millions of dollars to King Donald’s political campaigns, so too can others donate to causes that they support.

[Bimbo #2] Noem was highly critical of California’s state and local leadership, specifically Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass, asserting that residents are “suffering under the policies of Governor Newsom and Mayor Bass.” She stated that federal agents and law enforcement are “working to change that and give them an opportunity to be successful and to live the American dream.”

Yes, snatching brown people off the streets and making them disappear does wonders give people “dream”.

[Bimbo #2] Noem said, “We are not going away. We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country.”

This bimbo bitch has to go. This is a totally inappropriate activity for a United States cabinet secretary. California is a sovereign state, and the structures and powers of units of local government are derived from the states. It’s none of the bimbo bitch’s business.

DHS Takes Stand In LA: Noem Vows To Crush Anti-ICE Protests, End “Socialist” Rule

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/dhs-takes-stand-in-la-noem-vows-to-crush-anti-ice-protests-end-socialist-rule/ar-AA1GBR8Q

Newsweek: Student in US since childhood detained by ICE day before birthday

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A student who has been in the United States since childhood was detained by federal immigration authorities on the day before his birthday.

Derrick Ozamah, 26, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents alongside his mother, Veronica Ozamah, outside of their home in Tucson, Arizona, just as they were about to leave to run errands on June 5.

His wife, Clara Fuentes Cervantes, 25, told Newsweek that five unmarked vehicles arrived at their residence, and plainclothes officers detained her husband and mother-in-law. She said that ICE agents did not present a warrant, and they acted intimidating.

“I was taken by surprise, and I’m stressed, and I feel like I can’t do anything. I feel like I’m just stuck in a box, and I just feel like I can’t do much,” Clara said.

Derrick, who arrived in the U.S. in 2016 on a student visa, studied at Iona College in New York before transferring to the University of Arizona, where he completed his bachelor’s degree in architecture.

Initially planning to pursue his master’s at Arizona as well, he had to reconsider his path due to budget cuts at the university. This led him to apply to other institutions, ultimately earning acceptance into the master’s program for Environmental Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is currently enrolled.

…

Clara is currently studying to become a doctor and has been living in Tucson for two months. As Derrick remains in detention, Clara remains committed to fighting for his release and urging the public to see the human impact behind immigration policies.

Student in US since childhood detained by ICE day before birthday
Derrick Ozamah, 26, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents alongside his mother, Veronica Ozamah.

https://www.newsweek.com/derrick-ozamah-detained-ice-birthday-2084080

Guardian: Newsom says use of national guard for Ice raids ‘ends tomorrow at noon’ – as it happened

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A federal judge ruled that Donald Trump acted illegally when he commandeered the California national guard and ordered thousands of troops to Los Angeles amid protests over immigration raids. The troops return to the control of California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, at noon on Friday.

Newsom says use of national guard for Ice raids ‘ends tomorrow at noon’ – as it happened
Judge temporarily bars president from deploying troops to LA, an order president has already appealed. This blog is now closed.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/jun/12/la-protests-los-angeles-california-curfew-ice-immigration-marines-national-guard-donald-trump-latest-updates

Deadline: “Manhandling” Of California Sen. Alex Padilla By Federal Agents In L.A. Puts Trump Team In Spin Mode – Update

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Outrage and spin are proving the partisan fallout of Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) being hauled out of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem‘s press conference Thursday in Los Angeles and handcuffed by federal agents.

After the incident, Padilla explained what occurred when he went to ask [Bimbo#2] Noem a question about the thousands of troops deployed to L.A. and the ramped-up rounding up of undocumented immigrants (and more than a few legal immigrants) by ICE agents in recent weeks.

“I began to ask a question,” Padilla said. “I was almost immediately forcibly removed from the room. I was forced to the ground, and I was handcuffed. I was not arrested. I was not detained.”

The clarification about whether California’s senior senator was actually arrested did nothing to lessen the blow that what happened to Padilla is what’s happening to American democracy and immigrant communities.

“If this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question, if this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, we can only imagine what they’re doing to farm workers, to cooks, to day laborers in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country,” Padilla, the son of Mexican immigrants, said outside the federal building in West LA this afternoon. “We will hold this administration accountable.”

Fellow Golden State native Kamala Harris was quick to weigh in on what occurred to the man who replaced her in the Senate in 2021 when she became Vice President, calling it “a shameful and stunning abuse of power.”

The bimbo bitch apparently told a few lies about not knowing who U.S. Senator Padilla was and claimed to have met with him afterwards, but …

As [Bimbo#2] Noem spins her own version of events, there has been no confirmation from Padilla’s office of that meeting.

It should be noted that Padilla was identifying himself as a senator as the widely circulated video of the incident confirms. [Bimbo#2] Noem has also met and interacted with Padilla on numerous occasions, especially since the former South Dakota governor was appointed to run DHS.

“Manhandling” Of California Sen. Alex Padilla By Federal Agents In L.A. Puts Trump Team In Spin Mode – Update
Tension in LA over ICE raids & troop deploymenst went to a whole new low with California Senator Alex Padilla attacked by federal agents.

https://deadline.com/2025/06/alex-padilla-removed-kristi-noem-press-conference-1236432260

Newsom Beats Trump As Court Curtails POTUS’ “Illegal” Use Of Troops In L.A.

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Donald Trump has just been ordered by a federal judge to “return control of the California National Guard to the Governor of the State of California forthwith.”

In an order handed down Thursday just a couple of hours after a pitched hearing in San Francisco between Department of Justice lawyers and Golden State attorneys, Judge Charles Breyer awarded Gavin Newsom the temporary restraining order he sought over Trump’s federalization of the California National Guard on June 7 after protests over ICE raids of undocumented immigrants in and around L.A.

“At this early stage of the proceedings, the Court must determine whether the President followed the congressionally mandated procedure for his actions,” the judge wrote in a 36-page order this evening. “He did not.” The Bill Clinton appointed judge added: “His actions were illegal — both exceeding the scope of his statutory authority and violating the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

Newsom and the state Attorney General first filed suit against Trump, Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth and others in the administration on June 9. The gist of their argument was that the president overstepped his authority when he dispatched National Guard troops to the region to respond to protests of ICE immigration raids late last week. The governor said the president violated the law by not consulting with him first before the deployment.

On June 11, Newsom upped the ante and demanded a TRO to halt the troop movement and Trump’s brazen authoritarian tactics ASAP

Having already warned on “a monarchy” in the hearing earlier today, Breyer worried that “Defendants’ actions also threaten to chill legitimate First Amendment expression.” To that, and with the overriding Constitutional and jurisdictional issues at play, he laid out exactly what’s next for Newsom and Trump with this halting of military deployment to America’s second-largest city:

For the foregoing reasons, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order:
Defendants are temporarily ENJOINED from deploying members of the California National Guard in Los Angeles.

Defendants are DIRECTED to return control of the California National Guard to Governor Newsom. 
The Court further STAYS this order until noon on June 13, 2025.

Plaintiffs are ORDERED to post a nominal bond of $100 within 24 hours. The bond shall be filed in the Clerk’s Office and be deposited into the registry of the Court. If said bond is not posted by the aforementioned date and time, this Order shall be dissolved.

Defendants are further ORDERED TO SHOW CAUSE why a preliminary injunction should not issue. A hearing on this order to show cause will be held on June 20, 2025 at 10 a.m. Plaintiffs’ moving papers shall be filed no later than June 16, 2025; Defendants’ opposition shall be due no later than June 18, 2025, and Plaintiffs’ reply shall be due on June 19, 2025.

Whether or not this White House complies with Breyer’s order is another matter.

Newsom Beats Trump As Court Curtails POTUS’ “Illegal” Use Of Troops In L.A.
POTUS just took a hit in his battle with the Governor of California for the streets of LA & troops being there

https://deadline.com/2025/06/trump-court-ruling-troops-la-newsom-1236432420