“It’s time to wake up,” Senator Alex Padilla said Tuesday in his first extended remarks on the Senate floor since being forcibly removed from a press conference in Los Angeles. Urging Americans to protest peacefully against the Trump administration, Padilla condemned what he described as authoritarian tactics used to silence dissent.
Padilla’s removal last week, after he attempted to question Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about immigration raids in California, sparked widespread outrage. Video footage showing the California Democrat being handcuffed by federal agents and escorted from the room quickly spread across social media, drawing fierce criticism at home and growing concern abroad.
“What happened today in Los Angeles is shocking,” said Sandro Gozi, Secretary General of the European Democratic Party and a member of the European Parliament. “A sitting U.S. Senator, Alex Padilla, was forcibly removed and handcuffed for daring to question Secretary Noem. Silencing elected officials is authoritarian. Full solidarity with Senator Padilla and all U.S. Democrats.”
The European Democratic Party followed with an official statement that questioned the broader implications of the act: “When an elected senator is treated this way, how far are we from seeing the same repression applied to ordinary citizens, to their right to speak, to protest, to question power? These are heavy questions, for American democracy, and for all of us who believe in and defend democratic values.”
Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, now a senator with the centrist Italia Viva party, drew a direct connection between the United States’ political climate and that of Europe’s far-right leaders. “Trump has opposition senators handcuffed: this is the model admired even today by Giorgia Meloni and Matteo Salvini,” Renzi said. “Democracy is for the first time truly in direct danger.”
Padilla, a vocal critic of the administration’s immigration policies, had attempted to speak at the press event to raise concerns about raids targeting undocumented immigrants in sanctuary cities. Secretary Noem, who has taken a hardline stance on immigration enforcement, declined to respond to questions, and the event was cut short after Padilla’s removal.
On the Senate floor this week, Padilla emphasized the broader significance of the incident. “This is not just about me,” he said. “This is about the right of every American to speak up, whether they are a senator, a student, or someone simply standing up for their community.”
Just days after the Los Angeles incident with Senator Padilla, two Minnesota Democratic state legislators were shot, one fatally, in a planned assassination plot. Their spouses were targeted as well, one of whom also died, after the perpetrator gained entry to their homes in the middle of the night by impersonating a police officer. The alleged killer, 57-year-old Vance Boelter, did not leave any “manifesto” explaining his actions, although authorities have revealed that he had a hit-list with the names of 45 more Democrats from his home state. While the precise motive remains under investigation, the attack has deepened international anxiety about the safety of U.S. democratic institutions and elected representatives.
Across Europe, leaders have been closely watching these developments with a mix of concern and warning. While the U.S. has historically stood as a model of stable democratic governance, recent events — Padilla’s handcuffing, the Minneapolis assassinations, and intensifying political polarization — have led to calls for vigilance in protecting democratic norms both in America and abroad.
As the volatile Trump presidency continues, European lawmakers are making clear that the state of American democracy is no longer just a domestic issue, it is a global concern, and one with consequences that extend far beyond its borders.
