WATCH: Padilla: “Secretary Noem, you should resign, or the President should fire you, or the House should vote to impeach”

Padilla also joined a press conference today to stand by three U.S. citizens who were assaulted, detained by DHS officers and agents

March 4, 2026 - WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee and the Rules and Administration Committee, joined a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) oversight hearing to question DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on the Trump Administration’s cruel mass deportation and detention campaign, attacks on legal immigration, and efforts to meddle in the upcoming 2026 midterm elections. Padilla called on Noem to resign, be fired, or be impeached by the House for her failed leadership of the Department.

Padilla demanded accountability as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and agents violently conduct indiscriminate immigration enforcement operations in American cities — starting with Los Angeles — leading to deaths, violent arrests, and serious injuries to noncitizens and citizens alike. He emphasized that 32 people died in ICE custody last year, and eight more have died in the first seven weeks of this year under Secretary Noem’s watch — a major increase from previous years. After Noem lied about the standards DHS is maintaining at detention centers, Padilla highlighted the deplorable conditions he saw when visiting the California City Detention Center. Last month, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction ordering ICE to provide better access to health care and counsel to people detained at the facility following Padilla’s oversight visit and California reports detailing inadequate care.

• “I have to tell you that I believe my own eyes. And I believed my own eyes when I saw firsthand the poor conditions in which people were treated when I visited the detention center in California City. … Maintaining basic standards should not require court orders. The deplorable conditions at facilities across the country are the result of Secretary Noem’s failed leadership.”

Padilla also stressed that the Trump Administration has repeatedly lost in court on their improper detention of noncitizens — more than 4,500 times since October alone. He underscored that judges, appointed by both Republicans and Democrats, across the country have consistently ruled that DHS is detaining immigrants unlawfully and have threatened to hold the Administration in contempt for failure to comply with court orders. As DHS tries to block lawmakers from conducting unannounced oversight visits to immigrant detention centers, Padilla slammed Secretary Noem’s efforts to enact unlawful policies to shield ICE from accountability. Last month, Padilla was denied entry to Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego while he attempted to exercise his Congressional oversight role amid reports of inhumane conditions individuals detained at the facility are facing.

In criticizing Noem’s failed leadership, Padilla called out the Secretary’s countless lies, including the false claims that DHS is targeting the “worst of the worst” violent criminals. DHS’ own data shows that less than 14% of those arrested by ICE and CBP have previously been charged with or convicted of violent crimes. Padilla blasted Noem for calling Renee Good and Alex Pretti “domestic terrorists” after they were brutally killed by ICE and CBP officers and agents and before a credible investigation even took place. He also exposed Noem’s lies that DHS hasn’t arrested or detained citizens or deported veterans.

• “Lies have become the pattern or practice of Kristi Noem’s DHS. In the fall of last year, Secretary Noem asserted that no American citizens have been arrested or detained, despite more than 170 verified reports to the contrary. During a House Homeland Security Committee oversight hearing recently, Secretary Noem claimed that DHS had not deported veterans, not under this Administration, and seconds later, Representative Magaziner presented via a video call Sae Joon Park, a veteran who earned a Purple Heart but was deported by Secretary Noem’s DHS.”

• “So it comes as no surprise that not just the Secretary directly, but her representatives within the Department have repeatedly lied to the American people about how the officers and agents under her charge have beaten, tased, shot at, and killed.”

• “Secretary Noem, before you even knew the facts or even allowed for a credible investigation to be conducted, you called Renee Good and Alex Pretti domestic terrorists for exercising their First Amendment rights. And just last week, DHS lied yet again about abandoning a Rohingya refugee, a nearly blind man who couldn’t speak or understand English in the parking lot of a closed coffee shop, only for him to die in the freezing streets of Buffalo.”

Padilla also questioned Noem on calls from President Trump’s former White House advisor Steve Bannon for ICE to “surround the polls come November,” which the White House has refused to rule out. At the same time, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons has said “there’s no reason for us to deploy to a polling facility,” and last week, Noem’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Election Integrity, Heather Honey, told a bipartisan group of state election officers that ICE would not be present at polling places. Noem said there are “no plans” to deploy ICE officers to polling locations, but refused to definitively say what she would do if Trump or Stephen Miller instructed her to unlawfully direct officers to deploy around the polls to intimidate American voters, including as part of a false national emergency declaration. Noem also admitted that “we know states run elections,” despite President Trump’s efforts to “take over” federal elections.

Following the hearing, Padilla joined a press conference alongside Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and three U.S. citizens who were assaulted, shot, or detained by DHS officers and agents and attended the DHS oversight hearing.

Senator Padilla has strongly opposed President Trump’s cruel and indiscriminate mass deportation agenda and denial of basic services for detained individuals, including through his oversight visits to the California City and Otay Mesa detention centers. Last month, Padilla joined Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and 20 other Senate Democrats in sounding the alarm on the dramatic increase in deaths in ICE detention. In January, Padilla joined Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) in introducing the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act to end the use of private, for-profit detention facilities, prohibit the practice of detaining families, and ensure due process for detained individuals. Last year, Padilla cosponsored the Restoring Access to Detainees Act, a bill to ensure the Department of Homeland Security allows detained noncitizens to contact legal counsel and their families.

Senator Padilla has attended a series of bicameral spotlight forums hosted by Blumenthal to denounce DHS officers and agents’ unlawful arrests of U.S. citizens, violent tactics, and disproportionate use of force. He also co-led a letter denouncing the Trump Administration’s stops, arrests, detentions, and deportations of U.S. citizens and pressed Secretary Noem on the wrongful targeting of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients. Last September, Padilla joined 60 of his Senate and House colleagues in opening a new investigation into the Trump Administration’s arrests, detentions, and deportations of noncitizen service members, veterans, and military families.

Additionally, Padilla spoke on the Senate floor last month to announce an amendment to the DHS funding bill to stop any federal law enforcement and military personnel from illegally patrolling polling sites. He also led a Rules Committee spotlight forum on the escalating threats to the midterm elections from the Trump Administration.

Source: Senator Alex Padilla