Alex Padilla: “it is important to me for this body to know that over the last 2 weeks in Los Angeles, my hometown, we are seeing masked…”

“it is important to me for this body to know that over the last 2 weeks in Los Angeles, my hometown, we are seeing masked Federal agents in tactical gear ordered into our communities. We have seen the disturbing pattern of increasingly extreme and cruel immigration enforcement operations targeting nonviolent people at places of worship, at schools, in courthouses--all to meet an arbitrary quota. Now we are seeing President Trump federalize National Guard troops and deploy them without the Governor's consent. Active-Duty marines are now being deployed, escalating tensions in our city. It is important to note--all this without coordination with State and local law enforcement. Despite repeated requests for the justification for these extreme actions and after months and months of little to no response from the administration on their aggressive and theatrical immigration raids, the Trump administration has done everything in their power but to provide transparency to the American people about their mission in Los Angeles. So last week, I chose to go home to try to get answers from the administration as they are literally militarizing our city. I want to share what I learned and I want to share what I heard because it should shock the conscience of our country.”