WATCH: Padilla calls on Latino officials to stand up and fight back against the Trump Administration’s attacks

July 25, 2025 - WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Thursday, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) delivered virtual remarks at the 42nd annual National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Conference, encouraging Latino leaders to make their voices heard and stand up against the Trump Administration’s injustices against Latino and immigrant communities. Padilla previously served as NALEO President, where he fought to advance Latino representation in local, state, and federal governments across the country.

Padilla underscored the dangerous threats to Latino and immigrant communities under the Trump Administration, including masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents conducting indiscriminate sweeps and detaining U.S. citizens. He referenced the tragic passing of a farm worker who fell to his death during an ICE raid in Ventura County, as well as the violent detainment of a father of three U.S. marines. He called on his fellow Latino officials to stand up against the Trump Administration’s attacks on Latinos across the nation.

• “In every corner of the country, Latino and immigrant communities are being targeted. On any given day, someone, somewhere in America could wake up to armed forces on horseback running children out of parks, masked agents using unmarked cars to abduct people. Each of us, one moment away from being a collateral arrest.”

• “We each took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America. To protect the rights afforded to all people regardless of status or background. And the truth is: our Constitution is only as strong as our collective will to protect it. Latinos have had enough. I’ve had enough.”

Padilla highlighted his own experience of being forcibly removed from Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s press conference in Los Angeles, where he was thrown to the ground and handcuffed after attempting to ask a question. He warned if this can happen to him, a U.S. Senator, it can happen to anyone, especially immigrants and Latinos. As President Trump looks to tear away constitutionally guaranteed birthright citizenship, Padilla sounded the alarm on threats to U.S. citizens.

• “Since then, I’ve continued to ask: if that’s what this Administration will do to a United States Senator with a question, imagine what they’re doing to immigrants and Latinos when no one is watching.”

• “If we don’t act now, we are all at risk of losing our constitutional rights — or worse, our democracy. Let’s be clear: the Trump Administration is testing the limits of their power. And they are scapegoating immigrants to do it.”

Padilla recalled his own background as the proud son of immigrants from Mexico. For 40 years, his dad worked as a short order cook and his mom worked cleaning houses. He detailed his entry into politics after returning home from college to California amid harmful rhetoric toward Latinos and Proposition 187, a proposal targeting immigrant families and communities like his own.

• “I hadn’t planned on getting involved in politics. I earned my Mechanical Engineering degree from M.I.T. But when I returned home from college in 1994, I found hateful TV ads and a statewide ballot measure known as Proposition 187 that attacked immigrant families and communities. The then Governor of California was trying to blame California’s problems on families like mine. So like so many others, I was enraged, I marched, got involved in campaigns, and eventually found myself running for office.”

• “Together, an entire generation of Latinos in California rose up to fight against that hate and scapegoating. Slowly but surely, Latinos in California grew our political power. And because of it, today I am proud to be the first Latino ever elected to represent California in the United States Senate.”

As the Trump Administration stokes much of the same hatred and fear in 2025, Padilla highlighted his legislative proposals to hold the Trump Administration accountable and help provide a pathway to citizenship for long-term undocumented immigrants whom Trump declared “essential” during the pandemic. He recently introduced the VISIBLE Act to require immigration enforcement officers to display clearly visible identification during public-facing enforcement actions.

Padilla concluded with a call to action for NALEO members to mobilize and push back against the Trump Administration’s demonization of immigrants and communities of color.

• “This has to be our wakeup call. So here’s my question: What will you do to fight back?”

• “Meet outrage with organizing. Meet mass deportations with mass mobilizations. Overcome the distractions with demonstrations.”

• “Do everything you can so that 30 years from now, Latinos in America can look back to this moment as the reason they got involved. It starts with us. And I look forward to fighting each and every day alongside all of you.”
  Source: Senator Alex Padilla