TRANSPARENT STUNTS: Democrat Senator, Union Leader Play Victim After Harassing Homeland Security

What do you call it when a Hispanic Democrat like Sen. Alex Padilla plays the victim after harassing federal law enforcement?

We’ve seen two examples of this apparently orchestrated charade in the last week, and I suspect we haven’t seen the last of it.

The Left has capitalized on both cases, accusing the feds of perpetrating an outrage when the Democrat was the real aggressor.

Last week, Service Employees International Union California President David Huerta appears to have blocked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Video shows him standing in front of an ICE vehicle as it arrived at a Los Angeles worksite to carry out a raid and detain illegal aliens.

Law enforcement arrested him and charged him with “conspiracy to impede an officer.”

Huerta maintains that he was “exercising his First Amendment right to observe and document law enforcement activity,” but SEIU President April Verrett stated that Huerta “was arrested while standing up for immigrants’ rights.”

Huerta sustained injuries in the altercation and went to the hospital. He was released from federal custody on Monday on a $50,000 bond.

“What happened to me is not about me; this is about something much bigger,” Huerta said in a statement after getting released from the hospital. “This is about how we as a community stand together and resist the injustice that’s happening.”

Labor unions around the U.S. have organized to protest Huerta’s arrest and the ICE raids in Los Angeles. The SEIU led or participated in protests in Atlanta; Boston; Charlotte; Chicago; Denver; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; Portland, Oregon; Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; Sacramento; San Francisco; Seattle; and St. Paul, Minnesota.

When he’s facing charges, Huerta claims he was merely “observing,” but when it comes to rallying the base, he says he was “standing up for immigrants’ rights” and “resisting injustice.” The problem is, it’s a crime to try to impede federal law enforcement when they’re enforcing the law. Huerta can play the victim all he wants, but he was the aggressor here.

Something similar happened on Thursday, though this situation may be even more blatant.

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., barged into a press conference featuring Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. He rushed in, approaching Noem’s podium. Security officials, likely not knowing who he was, stated, “Sir, sir,” and “Hands up! Hands up!”

Only after his initial approach and after security attempted to stop him while he kept pushing against them to get to Noem did Padilla say, “I’m Sen. Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary.”

Padilla was not wearing the pin that marks him as a member of Congress, and the video shows him rushing toward the front of the room in what security officers understandably interpreted as a threatening manner.

“Sen. Padilla chose disrespectful political theater and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin posted on X. “Mr. Padilla was told repeatedly to back away and did not comply with officers’ repeated commands.”

Secret Service “thought he was an attacker, and officers acted appropriately,” McLaughlin added. “Secretary Noem met with Sen. Padilla after and held a 15-minute meeting.”

Padilla had options. He didn’t have to barge into the press conference.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon illustrated how to “crash” a press conference respectfully—stand back, make your presence known, and wait for the person holding the press conference to address you. Padilla showed none of that tact, and thanks to the footage Democrats themselves are sharing, Americans can see it.

Yet, like Huerta, Padilla played the victim.

“If this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question, if this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, you can only imagine what they’re doing to farmworkers, to cooks, and to day laborers out in the Los Angeles community, and throughout California, and across the country,” Padilla said. “We will hold this administration accountable.”

Other Democrats also suggested Padilla had been abused.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., decried “the manhandling of a United States senator.” Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., called the incident “outrageous, dictatorial, and shameful.”

Padilla’s fellow senator from California, Adam Schiff, called the actions of Secret Service an “assault” on democracy. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said Padilla had been “recklessly and aggressively manhandled.”

“It was unpatriotic. It’s un-American, and every single person who was involved in manhandling Sen. Padilla should be held accountable to the full extent of the law,” Jeffries added.

Let me get this straight. Secret Service acted to protect the secretary of homeland security, and now Jeffries thinks they committed a crime?

Americans see through this charade. Democrats are desperate to paint the Trump administration as unjust and aggressive, and they understandably want to reverse public opinion on the immigration issue.

Both Huerta and Padilla, either on their own or in coordination with others, took aggressive actions that they knew would spark a response. This was the political messaging equivalent of suicide by cop, and it won’t work. Now, Huerta faces charges, and Padilla has made himself a laughingstock.

Meanwhile, Trump is hard at work starting the long process of deporting the millions of illegal aliens former President Joe Biden let into the country.

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