Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has tried to claim that a Democratic senator was only tackled by ICE agents during an altercation in Los Angeles earlier this year because he tried to “attack” her.
“He absolutely did storm at me,” the anti-immigration crusader, nicknamed ‘ICE Barbie’ for her habit of cosplaying as a DHS agent, told Fox News, about the incident involving Sen. Alex Padilla of California.
“Yes, I know he absolutely did storm at me, in fact. He hit the ground because of how he attacked me that day. So, it’s hard to deny the video evidence.”
Noem’s “video evidence” refers to footage of a press conference held in Los Angeles back in June, as her department carried out raids across the city under the watch of National Guard troops deployed to the state by President Donald Trump, against the wishes of California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom.
The footage, widely circulated at the time and even played on-screen as Noem spoke with Fox, shows nothing that substantiates Noem’s claim that Padilla “attacked” her. In fact, it shows Padilla being pushed back by DHS agents some considerable distance from the stage where the secretary was speaking, before being wrestled to the ground and handcuffed out in the hallway.
Noem’s claim was mocked on social media, with the House Homeland Security Committee Democrats’ X account calling it “Olympic level gaslighting.”
The issue resurfaced earlier on Tuesday after Attorney General Pam Bondi—who was tackled on Trump’s weaponization of the Justice Department during a stormy Senate hearing—directly accused Padilla of “storming” Noem.
Interviewing Noem, Fox host Jesse Watters was quick to suggest that Padilla’s actions during the press conference in Los Angeles may have contributed to what the MAGA administration claims has proven an increasing uptick in violence against immigration officials over the past few months.
“Do you think that might lead to people attacking ICE officers?” Watters put it to Noem. “Just the kind of… that performance by a public official? You know, months later, you see ICE agents under assault.”
Noem didn’t need asking twice. “You should see the conversations outside,” she said. “They’re threatening their lives, they’re saying ‘molotovs melt ICE’. They’re talking about using weapons of destruction against our officers. And then these politicians stand up and say, ‘Well, we just need to talk some more.’”
