- 6/13/2025
During remarks on the Senate floor on Thursday, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) spoke about the forced removal of Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) from a DHS press briefing.
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00:00Mr. President. I'm grateful for the recognition. I know we have been talking
00:08here now for quite some time about an incident that's unprecedented. I would
00:14imagine in generations here that a United States senator today in a federal
00:19building going to ask questions to a federal official and the executive is
00:25forcibly handled identifies himself as a US senator then pulled out of the room
00:32doors closed and then as we saw from another camera forcibly driven to his
00:38knees then thrown upon his face with his arms wrenched behind him and handcuffed.
00:45It is such a breach to have one of our members of this body treated in such a
00:50way for as one of the officials from the Department of Homeland Security says for
00:55being disrespectful and performative. Well if that is a reason for people to be
01:01thrown on the ground forcibly handcuffed most of this body would have had that
01:06experience. This is something far more serious when we see that oversteps of
01:14power. Now I have seen this with LaMonica MacGyver doing her oversight authority,
01:21being caught up in a storm of officials going to arrest a mayor who then the judge
01:29said clearly was wrongfully arrested. We've seen this in the overstepping of the
01:38bounds of propriety but this act of violence against a member of this body
01:41demands a response. Now we have seen what happens when government uses excuse me
01:51abuses their power when they engage in violent actions against their citizenry.
01:58Indeed we have seen this in its extreme cases time and time again throughout our
02:04history unfortunately in the labor movement, in the suffrage movement, in the civil rights
02:12movement. We know that when state officials in Alabama met John Lewis and
02:19marches across the Edmund Pettus Bridge and they were wet with such violence the
02:23intention there was to suppress our freedoms. We are in a time now where we're seeing
02:31protests planned all across the United States of America. Hundreds of protests
02:36coming this weekend and as Alex Padilla himself has asked if they can do this to
02:42a United States senator what does that say to the average American who wants to
02:47exercise their constitutionally protected rights to protest to petition their
02:52government to speak up. More than this Alex Padilla in this body has come in a
03:00very unusual way. He is the son of Mexican immigrants. A short order cook and a
03:09woman who cleaned homes. In this environment where we have seen our
03:19immigration enforcement officials not going after criminals or gang members or
03:25people that are somehow threatening us but going to separate families, taking away a
03:30mother from her children, taking away people dropping off their kids at school,
03:36going to work sites or places like Home Depot where people stand in looking for work,
03:43going after agricultural workers. This is a moment where we see good-faith people
03:50peacefully protesting and having the courage to stand up to the most powerful
03:56person in the world, the president of the United States. But yet again we see an
04:01example where that president is willing to abuse their authority in an act that is
04:10ensured that is sure to be an attempt at intimidation. If Alex Padilla, a United States
04:22senator, can be dragged from a room in a federal building for asking questions thrown upon the ground
04:34and handcuffed. What does it say to the traditions in our nation that are one of the
04:40reasons why we are all here? Because our government does have its limits. It's not
04:48unchecked power. The president is not the king. Insulting him is not a crime. Look I have been
04:58disappointed as I have seen in joint statements and and I've seen this in state of the union addresses
05:06behavior from people that I don't find justifiable within the chamber. I remember when a South Carolina
05:16congressman heckled the president of the United States. I heard it in one of Trump's addresses,
05:23people yelling things at the president. Is that in a democracy sufficient provocation to arrest
05:32senators or congresspeople who are quote-unquote disrespectful as Alex Padilla was accused of
05:38being? As if that's a justification to be thrown upon the ground, violently handcuffed?
05:44We have certain exalted ideals and principles in a democracy. In fact, fundamental to our democracy,
05:55written in our founding documents, over 200 years old, were this ideal of certain inalienable rights
06:04to the people. Our Bill of Rights enshrines. Before even the ratification of our Constitution by states,
06:12it was demanded that we have a Bill of Rights that guarantees certain principles before a government.
06:20Our design of our government was to provide checks and balances because of how much our founders
06:26feared excesses and abuses of power. These are constitutional principles now that today,
06:36in the most dramatic fashion, are under attack. We as a nation have elevated the ideals of the ability
06:48of American citizens to speak truth to power, to protest, to stand peacefully and forcibly
06:57in defiance of abuses of power. And today, in this body of 100, we have seen one of our members,
07:14the son of Mexican immigrants, the son of a short-order cook,
07:21and a woman who cleaned houses in the most noble of fashions, who invested themselves in our common
07:28dream, who invested themselves in our ideals, who raised an extraordinary young man who has lived his
07:35life in service of others, starting in Los Angeles, starting as a city council person in that very city,
07:42a graduate of MIT, face an indignity and an assault and violence that should not be tolerated on anybody
07:53in this body that is an executive overreach by the President of the United States.
07:59And it is happening within a pattern of conduct. A mayor in Newark, arrested, rebuked by a judge that the
08:11authorities of the executive were overstepped. LaMonica MacGyver, a congresswoman, brought up on charges
08:21as she was caught in a storm of officials rushing to arrest, wrongfully arrest,
08:26that mayor who was now suing for that wrongful arrest.
08:33We see time and time again
08:38a pattern being created of an executive overstepping its authority,
08:43and in this case using violence against an American citizen who also happens to be
08:52a member of this body, a United States Senator.
08:56I have strong, strong concerns about the fear and intimidation that this President seeks to create
09:09in our society. The fear and intimidation of a President that seems to equate
09:17defiance, dissent, and protest with somehow being unpatriotic or being un-American.
09:30Well, leader after leader in our history says that when there is injustice, when there are abuses of
09:36power, when there is a federal government overstepping its bounds, it is incumbent upon the
09:42citizenry of the United States of America not to be complicit, not to be silent, not to do anything.
09:48In this nation, we breed strong voices that know that the true checks of the power of the executive
09:57are not just the judicial branch and Congress. The true checks on abuses of power will always be
10:05the power of the people.
10:11I believe that our founders spoke to this.
10:20I believe that there are extraordinary words from our past, and I'd like to read some of them.
10:27This is a quote that so guided our framers that the President of the United States is not a king.
10:44The great difficulty lies in this. You must first enable the government
10:48government to stand for justice.
10:54In Federalist number 51, James Madison talked about the urgency of the people to check the power of the executive.
11:05Here's Jefferson. The abuse of power is not a new thing.
11:09It is the consequence of power itself. Jefferson suggesting the urgency for us as a citizenry to be
11:16vigilant against the abuses of power.
11:21As I've said already, the words of Jefferson, when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
11:26When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.
11:31Donald Trump seems to want to make protesters afraid of him.
11:36Dissenters afraid of him.
11:40Those who disagree with him afraid of him.
11:42He seems to want to have law firms come to heel because of his threats to their financial well-being.
11:48Wants to make universities come to heel because of their fears of losing federal grants.
11:56These are signs not of a healthy democracy, but one under assault.
12:04Another quote.
12:05Emergencies have always been the pretext upon which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded.
12:13A president that tries to precipitate a crisis or make people believe that there is a crisis in Los Angeles.
12:20One that cannot be handled by the local police, the city police, the county police.
12:25And in the farce of some serious emergency sent in federal troops.
12:36This is a president that is abusing our traditions.
12:39And as we saw today, a president whose administration in my lifetime took the first violent action against a member of this body who was standing up to ask questions.
12:56I quote George Washington.
13:01If men are to be precluded from offering their sentiments on a matter, which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences that can invite the consideration of mankind,
13:13reason is of no use to us.
13:14The freedom of speech may be taken away.
13:17And dumb and silent, we may be led like sheep to slaughter.
13:21That's how important our first president thought of as the ability for the people of this country to stand up and speak truth to power.
13:33The right to free speech.
13:36The right to petition your government.
13:38The right to assemble.
13:40These are vaunted, sacred principles in this country.
13:43And today, if those principles are stripped from a United States senator in their own state, in a federal building,
13:54if a United States senator cannot exercise their right of speech, their right to question their government,
14:02their right to provide checks and balances,
14:04even after they've identified themselves,
14:07they are forcibly removed from a room in that federal building,
14:12forced to kneel and then thrown upon their face,
14:16then having their arms wrenched behind their back and handcuffed.
14:19As Alex Padilla said, if they are doing that to me,
14:23just imagine what they are doing to laborers and farm workers.
14:28And others do not have the stature of this office.
14:36What will this body do?
14:37This is the test before us right now.
14:40What will this body do?
14:43Where are the voices of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle?
14:50True tests of leadership are not easy.
14:53To stand in a storm.
14:57To stand for principle.
15:00Against politics.
15:01To stand for patriotism.
15:04Against partisanship.
15:06To stand up for what is right.
15:11That is what this moment calls.
15:14For us to normalize what we saw today.
15:19Normalize a U.S. senator.
15:21Being violently grabbed and handcuffed.
15:26With no charges.
15:30No charges filed.
15:34If we say nothing now, our silence is complicity in that behavior by the executive.
15:41It is an erosion of our democracy, of our principles.
15:45I heard the authors of this book, How Democracies Die, speak with fear and worry about our current state of affairs in America.
16:01And one of the principles that they pointed to, one of the signs that they pointed to about a democracy in peril was violence.
16:12But it wasn't violence of political sectarian nature.
16:20Yes, that is part of it.
16:23But the worst type of violence that shows the erosion of a democracy is when the state itself uses violence unjustly against its citizenship.
16:35Against its citizenry.
16:37That was the horrors of Donald Trump pardoning people that beat police officers in this building.
16:44The horrors to me was not the presidential pardon power.
16:49However, the horrors to me was that the very people who beat into submission police officers in order to unjustly install a president,
17:03in order to prevent the peaceful transfer of power, that very sane president was saying,
17:08hey, it's all right, I'm going to call you patriots and absolve you of your convictions by a jury of your peers,
17:16some of you who even pled guilty to your crimes, I'm going to say that that is all forgiven.
17:26The danger in that is a president saying that if you commit violent acts to my benefit,
17:32in this case, to unjustly install me in my position, then that is okay.
17:38It is encouraging violence within our society that erodes our democracy as a whole.
17:46This is the crisis we're in.
17:50This is a moment that is a test of this body.
17:54This is a crossroads in this body.
17:58A member of this body in a federal building trying to ask questions to a federal official
18:05after identifying themselves faced violence from his government
18:11that tried to silence him
18:15as he tried to ask a question.
18:21This has precipitated for us a greater question.
18:25Are we a vibrant democracy that protects our fundamental rights,
18:31that checks power from abuse,
18:33that demands that no one is above the law,
18:37whether it be any American citizen,
18:40and especially those who serve in public office?
18:43What will our democracy be tomorrow?
18:48Will we normalize this kind of violence,
18:52this kind of attack on a member of this body,
18:55by the administration,
18:56for the sin that they themselves have said
19:00is just disrespectful behavior?
19:06Asking a question at a press conference.
19:12This is a day of great challenge and great trial.
19:16This is a test of this body.
19:21How will we respond in this moment?
19:26Will this body simply allow the administration
19:30to continue in this manner,
19:35this pattern and practice that they are establishing,
19:39where the rights of American citizens
19:42to speak truth,
19:46to protest,
19:47to speak up,
19:48to call out,
19:50to question,
19:51to be in dissent?
19:53Are those sacrosanct principles,
19:56or will we allow them to be violated
19:58even when it is a member of our own body?
20:06At the end of the Declaration of Independence,
20:08these brave men
20:09who saw the abuses of power
20:11of a king.
20:16Those revolutionaries
20:17who gave birth to this great democracy,
20:21those imperfect geniuses
20:23who grappled
20:24with the great ideals of their time
20:27that set up a nation
20:29not ruled by kings and queens,
20:32not a theocracy
20:33where there is some divine right
20:35of someone to rule over us,
20:38decided to vest the power
20:41in this nation
20:42with the people,
20:44and created a government
20:45organized around the principle
20:48of the suspicion
20:49of concentrations of power,
20:51and created three branches of government
20:54to provide checks and balances,
20:55and then gave to the people
20:57of the United States of America
20:59certain fundamental rights.
21:04The First Amendments to our Constitution
21:07enshrining those rights,
21:09those rights that have allowed
21:10generation after generation
21:11to use them to make our nation more perfect,
21:15to speak up to the wrongs
21:17and the ills of government,
21:18to challenge leaders
21:20who had gotten corrupt
21:21and had gone wrong.
21:25Generation after generation
21:27standing on the principles
21:28of our Constitution,
21:29and here we are
21:30in 2025
21:32where those ideals
21:35are being tested,
21:36where that Constitution
21:37is being strained,
21:38where a member of this body
21:43speaking up
21:45and asking questions
21:46at a time of trial
21:48in his community
21:49is not met with answers
21:51to his questions,
21:52but is met with violence.
21:56That is wrong.
21:58But when wrongs continue,
22:05or as our founders
22:06called them,
22:07usurptations
22:08of our inalienable rights,
22:13when those go unchecked,
22:16when such actions
22:17go unanswered,
22:18it paves a road
22:20towards tyranny,
22:22and in our day and age,
22:24it is signs
22:25of our weakening commitment
22:27to democracy.
22:28our founders
22:31knew something
22:33so well.
22:37And as they pledged themselves
22:39to break with a king,
22:41to break with a central,
22:44powerful person,
22:46to break through a world
22:48where you must go
22:48before the dear leader
22:50and bow in submission,
22:53where the vicissitudes
22:54and the whims
22:55of an individual leader
22:56wreak havoc
22:57with a community,
22:58those people
23:01who broke
23:02with that course
23:03of human events
23:04and established
23:05this nation,
23:06they knew one thing
23:07for sure,
23:08that if we were
23:09to make this nation work,
23:11we had to make
23:12an unusual commitment
23:13to each other.
23:14they ended that declaration
23:18of independence
23:19with that commitment,
23:22we must mutually pledge
23:24to each other
23:24our lives,
23:26our fortunes,
23:28and our sacred honor.
23:29there was no honor
23:32in what happened
23:33to one of our members
23:34today.
23:36When he was taken
23:37violently
23:38and driven
23:40to his knees,
23:41there is no honor
23:42in what happened
23:44today.
23:45When an American
23:47standing up
23:47to ask questions
23:49to a person
23:50in authority
23:50was met with violence,
23:52there is no honor
23:54in what happened
23:55today.
23:57When a member
23:58of our body
23:58was thrown
23:59into handcuffs,
24:00there is no honor
24:03in that.
24:05But where
24:06we can show honor,
24:11where we can honor
24:12our traditions,
24:14is not being silent
24:17in the face
24:19of something going wrong.
24:20The truth of the matter
24:21is,
24:22our nation
24:22has seen wrongs
24:23before,
24:25but the way
24:26we dealt with them
24:27is by having
24:30others stand up
24:31and call them out
24:33to help us
24:34to correct course.
24:39When those marchers
24:40were met with violence
24:42on the Edmund Pettus Bridge,
24:44that was not
24:45the end of the story.
24:47The end of the story
24:48happened
24:50days later
24:52when they made it
24:54over that bridge,
24:56when they got
24:57to their destination,
24:59when they presented
25:00their grievances
25:01to their government,
25:02when this body itself,
25:05hearing from the people,
25:07passed new laws
25:08and legislations
25:09to protect the people
25:10and their rights,
25:11in this case,
25:12their voting rights.
25:16Bad things happen,
25:17mistakes are made.
25:20power
25:21seeks more power.
25:25Our country
25:26is not bereft
25:27of demagoguery
25:30or hate
25:31or powerful people
25:35that wanted to
25:36suppress dissent,
25:38of people who equated
25:39opposition
25:40with being un-American.
25:43we have seen that all.
25:47But so far,
25:49we have seen people
25:50in those times
25:51having the courage
25:52to stand up
25:53and stand against it,
25:58to call it out,
26:00to demand redress,
26:02to fight for justice.
26:04this is a moment
26:07that demands
26:08that tradition.
26:10This is a moment
26:11that demands
26:12not just people
26:14on one side
26:15of the political aisle,
26:16not just one party,
26:18it demands us
26:19coming together
26:19and pledging
26:20a deeper,
26:21more sacred honor,
26:23that we will defend
26:24this democracy,
26:25that we will uphold
26:26the Constitution,
26:28and stand together,
26:29united against anyone,
26:31especially using violence
26:33that tries to suppress
26:35the fundamental rights
26:37of another American,
26:39and especially
26:39the senior United States Senator
26:43from the great state
26:44of California.
26:46Mr. President,
26:47I yield the floor.