A day after federal agents forcibly restrained and handcuffed U.S. Sen Alex Padilla at a Los Angeles news conference, leaders of the country’s two political parties responded in what has become a predictable fashion — with diametrically opposed takes on the incident.

Now the senior U.S. senator from California, Alex Padilla’s career in public service started amid intense fervor over immigration in the early 1990s. Now, it comes full circle.

The senator is known on Capitol Hill for being kind and nerdy. His forcible removal from a news conference resonated as a call to action among Democrats.

Sen. Alex Padilla was forced to the ground and handcuffed after he interrupted a press conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at the Wilshire Federal Building. He was released shortly thereafter.

California’s U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla was forcibly removed from a press conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other Trump administration officials Thursday morning.

Chaotic scenes in which Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) was pressed to the ground and handcuffed by federal agents set the political world aflame Thursday. Padilla had come to a news conference being

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused Sen. Alex Padilla of "lunging" at her, justifying officers forcing him to the ground and handcuffing him. It's part of a broader strategy by the Trump administration to stoke fear to justify violence.

California Sen. Alex Padilla is getting plenty of mileage out of his scuffle with the Secret Service and federal authorities in Los Angeles Thursday. Padilla’s Senate and campaign X.com