House reacts to Padilla being pushed from DHS briefing with Democratic calls for Noem to resign

Bipartisan lawmakers in the House of Representatives reacted on Thursday to California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla being pushed out of a Department of Homeland Security press briefing in the golden state.

Footage of the incident show law enforcement officers pushing Padilla from the conference while he shouts at Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. He was handcuffed over the incident but was not arrested or charged. 

The Congressional response to the incident has been mixed, with Democrats largely slamming the law enforcement response and calling for Noem to testify or resign over the scandal. But Republicans have pushed their criticism on Padilla for disrupting the briefing.

The California delegation of House Democrats warned that the incident could have happened to any Democratic lawmaker, while House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries urged accountability for the law enforcement officers and others involved in the event.

”Every single person who was involved in manhandling Senator Padilla should be held accountable to the full extent of the law,” he said, per Politico.

Illinois Democratic Rep. Delia Ramirez called for Noem to resign.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, said he believes Padilla should be censured by the Senate for disrupting the briefing.

“I think that that behavior at a minimum rises to the level of a censure,” Johnson told reporters. “I think there needs to be a message sent by the body as a whole that that is not what we’re going to do, that’s not what we’re going to act. We’re not gonna have branches fighting physically and having senators charging Cabinet secretaries.”

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said that he believes the senator’s actions were “ludicrous” but admitted he had not seen footage of the incident. 

“Without seeing that video, I’d just say: we all know what the laws of this country are and if you think you can disrupt or violate those laws and get away with it just because you’re in elected office, is ludicrous,” he said.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.