Press Release: 6/13/2025

California Senator Detained in DHS Presser in LA

 

Published: Jun 12, 2025

After a week of aggressive escalation by the Trump administration in Los Angeles over ICE’s mass detention efforts, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla from California was removed and detained at a DHS press conference in the state.

LOS ANGELES –  After a week of aggressive escalation by the Trump administration in Los Angeles over ICE’s mass detention efforts, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla from California was removed and detained at a DHS press conference in the state. 

Statement of Common Cause President and CEO, Virginia Kase Solomón: 

This is not law and order — this is tyranny. If they can treat a sitting United States Senator like this, imagine the brute force that can be used on any one of us. 

Americans have a right to demand answers from our government, especially after that government egregiously weaponized the military against California citizens exercising their constitutional rights. But Donald Trump’s administration just handcuffed a sitting U.S. Senator for simply asking a question.

This is a moment where every American needs to make a clear choice: do we want to be a nation of laws, or do we want to be governed by the whims of one power-hungry man? 

This, along with the recent escalation in Los Angeles, is a hostile takeover and an aggressive overextension of power. This is an attempt to silence anyone who so much as questions this administration. 

Common Cause members refuse to be silent. We will speak the truth and demand answers until our government is accountable to its citizens, not the whims of an aspiring dictator. This is our country, and it belongs to us.