Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called out the Trump administration for having Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) arrested for asking Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a question.
“Like so many people around the country, I just saw something that made my stomach turn. Something that I didn’t think I’d see, even in this administration,” Buttigieg said in a video posted to social media. He then showed video of Padilla being beaten to the ground as he was being arrested for questioning Noem.
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“It’s total chaos,” said the out former transportation secretary, adding that the president is trying to act like a king.
“What are we supposed to do about that?”
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“The Trump government has crossed one of the reddest of red lines that can exist in a free society,” Buttigieg continued. “Any salute to the flag or talk of patriotism or American greatness is completely hollow if you do not respect the freedoms that that flag represents, the Constitution that directs the course of this country, and they’ve shown what they think of those freedoms and that Constitution.”
Buttigieg explained that members of Congress, especially Republicans, have to respond to the “out of control” administration’s attacks on their power and democracy itself.
Today they have crossed a deep red line.
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) June 12, 2025
We, the people, must hold the president and his appointees accountable for this outrageous abuse against American liberty. pic.twitter.com/iPIlR4U5Fv
The administration justified the arrest by saying that Padilla didn’t identify himself, even though multiple videos of the incident show him saying, “I’m Senator Alex Padilla, I have questions for the secretary.”
Secretary Noem was speaking about immigration enforcement and the protests in LA. Sen. Padilla is the ranking member of the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety, and he also represents the state of California.
“I’m OK,” Padilla later said. “But if they can do that to me, a United States senator… what are they doing to a lot of folks out there when the cameras are not on?”
“What we’ve seen here should not be normalized.”
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