Alex Padilla U.S. Senator for California

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, spoke on the Senate floor to blast President Trump for manufacturing a crisis by launching indiscriminate Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids across Los Angeles and deploying the National Guard and active-duty servicemembers to the region. Padilla slammed President Trump for scapegoating immigrants to distract from his failed policies, including Republicans’ billionaire-first budget reconciliation bill that would cut critical services like health care and nutrition for millions of working families across the country.

Despite Governor Gavin Newsom’s objections, Trump federalized California’s National Guard without the request and support of the Governor for the first time since 1965. Padilla emphasized that this unprecedented move from President Trump was designed to “create chaos, in order to escalate tensions in the region and to create a pretext for more extreme actions in the future.”

Padilla urged Californians to exercise their First Amendment rights to peacefully protest President Trump’s abuse of the armed forces and ignorance of due process, but he stressed that violence and vandalism have no place in these protests.

Key Excerpts:

• “It’s not a coincidence, after one of the most embarrassing weeks, to be sure, of the Trump presidency, as the public has continued to learn the truth about the budget reconciliation bill that would cut health care for so many working families across the country in order to pay for further tax breaks for the most wealthy in America.”
• “Just as he’d done so many times before, when things are going bad, when all else fails, what does he do? Classic Trump playbook: he turns to scapegoating immigrants, and he decided that this was the time to launch indiscriminate ICE raids throughout the Los Angeles region, clearly not just targeting criminals, but so many others. ICE raids in workplaces in an attempt to manufacture a crisis.”

• “Let’s be clear: what you’re all seeing on the news about the Los Angeles region right now is a crisis that Donald Trump has created, and he’s doing it to distract from his failed agenda.”

• “Let’s not give the President what he wants. There’s two things he wants. He either wants us to be quiet and go away and let him continue to overreach and abuse his power. We will not stand for that. We have First Amendment rights, and so let’s peacefully protest. Second, for those who think this is an opportunity to exploit and to turn violent, to vandalize, that’s exactly what Donald Trump wants: any excuse, large or small, to continue to escalate his use of force. Let’s not give him that.”

• “To the rest of the country, I urge you to see this for what it is, because when the headline turns on Donald Trump, Donald Trump turns on the American people.”

Senator Padilla has been outspoken in slamming the Los Angeles ICE raids and Trump’s misguided mobilization of the National Guard and U.S. Marine Corps. Yesterday, Padilla, Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) demanded answers from top Trump Administration officials regarding the arrest and detention of David Huerta, President of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) California and SEIU-United Service Workers West. Padilla has joined national and local TV and radiobroadcasts in the past few days to condemn the Trump Administration’s ICE raids across Los Angeles and President Trump’s ensuing unprecedented deployment of California’s National Guard and Marines to the region.

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