The fallout from the forceful removal of Sen. Alex Padilla from a Department of Homeland Security press conference this week ramped up on Friday, June 13, with one high-profile Republican congressmember saying the Californian should be charged with a crime and a cohort of 20 Democratic representatives calling for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to testify before a House oversight committee.

Padilla was forcibly removed from a Thursday press conference during which Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other federal officials discussed the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration sweeps in Los Angeles County. The incident, like the immigration sweeps themselves, quickly sparked national outrage from Democratic leaders, while Republicans framed Padilla as acting inappropriately.

Besides being the latest in a series of flash points that have erupted in Los Angeles County amid U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s sweeps over the last week, Thursday’s incident has also underscored the intractability of the current political climate — with Republicans and Democrats seemingly operating from different realities. That divide has been on display all week, as Democrats argue protests around LA County have mostly been peaceful, with just a smattering of exceptions, while many Republicans have described the demonstrations as an insurrection.

The Padilla incident, then, represents a continuation of the muddied discourse over the Trump administration’s immigration policy.

“We want to get the full scope of what happened,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, said on Thursday, “and do what we would do in any incident like this involving a senator and try to gather all the relevant information.”

The furor began when Padilla attempted to ask Noem a question during her press conference.

“I am Sen. Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary,” the Democratic senator said as he was being pushed out of the room by several federal law enforcement officers.

Though he wasn’t officially detained, video later showed Padilla being pushed to the ground and handcuffed with his arms behind his back.

“If this is how the 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, to day laborers throughout the Los Angeles community, throughout California, and throughout the country,” Padilla said in a Thursday press conference. “We will hold this administration accountable. We’ll have more to say in the coming days.”

The incident was swiftly condemned by Democratic leaders across California and the nation, with some calling for an investigation into DHS’ actions against Padilla.

“We need a full investigation immediately as to what happened,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said in a statement, “and who did what. And what’s going to be done to see that this doesn’t happen again to Senator Padilla or other American citizens who are seeking their right to redress.”

That condemnation continued on Friday, with several lawmakers demanding Noem testify before the House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

The letter, sent to committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), was signed by 20 Democratic members of congress, including Reps. Maxwell Alejandro Frost of Florida, Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania and, locally, Robert Garcia of Long Beach.

“We write to urge the (committee) to demand sworn testimony from (Noem) to address the violent detention of (Padilla),” the letter said. “If she does not agree to appear before the committee immediately, we urge you to take the bipartisan action that the gravity of this matter warrants and issue a subpoena to compel such testimony.”

The Trump administration and its allies, though, have attempted to frame the incident as Padilla’s fault. The Department of Homeland Security has attempted to blame Padilla for what happened, going so far as to falsely claim that the senator didn’t identify himself properly.

“Senator Padilla chose disrespectful political theatre and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem,” DHS wrote on social media on Thursday. “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.”

In multiple videos of the incident, however, Padilla can be heard clearly identifying himself. And the senator said on a Crooked Media podcast appearance after the incident that he was escorted into the press conference at the Federal Building in Los Angeles by a National Guard member and an FBI agent after going through a security screening to enter the building for a planned briefing with DHS.

“Anybody who’s seen the video knows that I repeatedly introduced myself — they knew who I was,” Padilla said. “They knew who I was. I was not lunging at the secretary; I was halfway through the back of the room on one side, trying to get a question out.”

Despite what the video shows, though, some Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana accused Padilla of “charging” Noem at the press conference — and said that the incident “rises to a level of a censure.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia — a far-right Republican — took it a step further on Thursday, telling News Nation that Padilla should be “charged and prosecuted” for the incident.

“He came in very aggressively, and then he actually fought police. He actually resisted arrest and aggressively refused to leave,” Greene said. “I think he should be charged, he should be prosecuted.”

It’s unclear what charges would be brought against Padilla.

In a Friday statement, Greene did provide details about what she thinks Padilla could be charged with. She also defended her characterization of the incident — namely that Padilla didn’t identify himself.

“The only people misrepresenting what happened are Senator Padilla and his Democrat colleagues. And now they’re trying to play the victim after provoking the situation themselves,” Greene said in the statement. “Senator Padilla never identified himself before aggressively approaching Secretary Noem. The Secret Service acted exactly as they should, professionally and decisively, to ensure the safety of their protectee.”

Greene also said that Padilla’s behavior was reckless.

“Let’s be clear: Republicans never rushed Biden’s cabinet members at press events to make headlines,” Greene said. “Padilla’s behavior was reckless, disrespectful, and put security at risk. That’s not a political stunt; it’s a serious breach of conduct.”

For Democrats, meanwhile, the incident has become the prime example of what they say is the Trump administration’s ongoing assault against American democracy.

Congress, the legislative branch of the government, is designed to have equal power with the judicial and executive branches, and part of its job is to provide oversight of federal agencies, actions and policies.

But Democratic senators and representatives say they have been blocked from providing oversight of the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda in Los Angeles. Several of those legislators have said they have been repeatedly, and illegally, denied access when trying to survey the treatment of immigrants and others in federal detention centers.

The Padilla incident also came just days after Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-New Jersey, was indicted on federal charges that accuse her of assaulting and interfering with immigration officers outside a detention center in her home state.

Several Democratic lawmakers stayed on the Senate floor late Thursday night to decry the incident, calling it a harrowing example of the dangers of  presidential overeach.

“This is what a dictatorship looks like,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) said. “We have to stand up.”

Some Democratic lawmakers, including Sens. Cortez Masto of Nevada and Tina Smith of Minnesota, also took to social media on Thursday to call for Noem’s resignation.

“Secretary Noem, you should resign. You’re head of Homeland Security and you can’t take a question from a sitting U.S. Senator at a press conference?” Masto wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “This level of abuse of power is shameful, outrageous, and is not doing anything to keep our homeland safe.”

The request to the House committee, meanwhile, asked the chairman to demand Noem’s testimony by Saturday, June 14. And if she doesn’t commit to testifying by June 21, the letter asks Comer to compel her to do so via subpoena.

“This shocking encounter adds to a litany of alarming moves by the Trump Administration to seize and abuse power, including by turning the military on the American people,” the letter said. “The Trump Administration has violently tackled, kneeled on, and handcuffed a sitting U.S. senator, and any other American could be next. The American people have questions, and we hope you will join us in bringing these dictatorial actions to account.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.