Vice President JD Vance recently faced strong criticism from Democratic leaders in California after he referred to U.S. Senator Alex Padilla as “Jose” during a visit to Los Angeles. The incident happened at a time when tensions were high in the city due to ongoing immigration enforcement actions by the Trump administration. The racist remark drew immediate backlash from many, including Senator Padilla himself, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, California Governor Gavin Newsom, and Senator Adam Schiff.

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Vance came to Los Angeles as the Trump administration was increasing its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids throughout the city. While speaking with reporters, he was asked about a recent event where Senator Padilla was forcibly removed from a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) news conference. A reporter mentioned a story about lawmakers being handcuffed, suggesting that the Trump administration was targeting Democrats. According to CNN, Vance said he wished “Jose Padilla” were there to ask a question, implying that Padilla’s earlier appearance was just for show.

The situation Vance referred to involved Senator Padilla attending a news conference held by Kristi Noem, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, in Los Angeles. Noem initially tried to lie about Padilla not identifying himself, but the video proved her wrong and showed Padilla being pushed to the ground and handcuffed outside the venue as he tried to speak to Secretary Noem. She paused briefly during the disturbance but then continued speaking.

Padilla faces racist remarks from Vice President

The DHS later confirmed that Noem met with Padilla for 15 minutes after the event ended. Padilla, the first Latino elected to the U.S. Senate from California, had interrupted Noem’s remarks at the Los Angeles FBI headquarters about the administration’s response to local protests against immigration enforcement. Padilla has already made it clear he thinks Trump is a tyrant, so that may be why Vance made the racist remark.

After Vance’s comments, Senator Alex Padilla responded “He knows my name. Look, sadly, it’s just an indicator of how petty and unserious this administration is. But he’s the vice president of the United States. Do you think he’d take the situation in Los Angeles more seriously?” Padilla had previously spoken about being handcuffed, saying that if a U.S. Senator could be treated that way in public, it was alarming to think how immigrants might be treated in private. He stressed the need to keep speaking out and advocating for change.

JD Vance served with Alex Padilla in the United States Senate.

Calling him “Jose Padilla” is not an accident. pic.twitter.com/UOgdzdKcuy — Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 20, 2025

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass strongly criticized Vance, saying, “Mr. Vice President, how dare you disrespect our Senator. I guess he just looked like anybody to you. Well, he’s not just anybody to us.” She pointed out that Vance had served with Padilla in the U.S. Senate before becoming Vice President and still worked with him as the President of the Senate.

California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, also responded on social media, “JD Vance served with Alex Padilla in the United States Senate. Calling him “Jose Padilla” is not an accident.”

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CNN —

Vice President JD Vance referred to Sen. Alex Padilla as “José Padilla” during a Friday visit to Los Angeles where he criticized California’s Democratic leaders and defended the Trump administration’s controversial use of the state’s National Guard in the city.

“I was hoping José Padilla would be here to ask a question, but unfortunately, guess he decided not to show up because there wasn’t the theater, and that’s all it is,” Vance told reporters, speaking from an FBI mobile command center that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is currently using in Los Angeles.

Vance dismissed Padilla’s appearance last week at a press conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as “pure political theater.” Padilla was forcefully removed, ordered to the ground by law enforcement and placed in handcuffs after attempting to ask Noem a question.

Padilla, California’s first Latino elected to the US Senate, had interrupted Noem as she was giving remarks in the Los Angeles FBI headquarters on the Trump administration’s response to protests in that city against Noem’s department and its immigration-enforcement efforts.

Padilla called the administration “petty and unserious” on Saturday in response to Vance’s comments.

“He knows my name. Look, sadly, it’s just an indicator of how petty and unserious this administration is,” Padilla told MSNBC. “But he’s the vice president of the United States. Do you think he’d take the situation in Los Angeles more seriously?”

When asked Friday about the vice president calling the Democratic senator by the wrong first name, Vance’s spokesperson Taylor Van Kirk brushed it off. “He must have mixed up two people who have broken the law,” Van Kirk told CNN without specifying the other person.

In 2007, former Chicago gang member Jose Padilla was found guilty of supporting Islamic terrorism overseas. It’s not clear who Vance intended to reference.

Padilla’s spokesperson said Friday that Vance, who served in the Senate with Padilla, “knows better.”

“As a former colleague of Senator Padilla, the Vice President knows better. He should be more focused on demilitarizing our city than taking cheap shots. Another unserious comment from an unserious administration,” spokesperson Tess Oswald said in a statement.

The vice president’s comments sparked immediate condemnation from some of the same California Democrats Vance lashed out at in his Friday remarks.

California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom also called Vance out on X, saying his misnaming of Padilla was “not an accident.”

Los Angeles Democratic Mayor Karen Bass responded to Vance at a press conference later Friday. “Mr. Vice President, how dare you disrespect our Senator,” Bass said, adding, “I guess he just looked like anybody to you. Well, he’s not just anybody to us.”

On Friday, Vance also reacted to a federal appeals court allowing President Donald Trump to maintain control over thousands of California National Guardsmen.

“That determination was legitimate, and the president’s going to do it again if he has to, but hopefully it won’t be necessary,” Vance said.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals late Thursday granted a request from Trump to lift, for now, a lower-court ruling that had required the president to relinquish control of roughly 4,000 guardsmen from the Golden State that he had federalized to beef up security in Los Angeles amid unrest over immigration enforcement.

“And I think what the Ninth Circuit said very clearly is when the president makes a determination, you’ve got to send in certain federal officials to protect people,” Vance said, while lashing out at California’s Democratic leadership for their handling of the unrest.

The vice president also defended the administration’s immigration policy, saying Trump wants to prioritize deportations of violent offenders or “really bad guys,” but that no one who’s undocumented should feel immune from enforcement.

When asked whether the administration’s deportation tactics had gone too far, Vance argued that he didn’t think “we’ve been too aggressive.”

“Anytime we make a mistake we correct that very quickly,” Vance said.

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s Kaanita Iyer and Christian Sierra contributed to this report.

(This story has been updated with new information.)

During JD Vance’s trip to Los Angeles on Friday, June 20, the vice president referred to California Sen. Alex Padilla as “José” when mentioning his absence at a news conference following a tour of an FBI mobile command center and meetings with Marines.

“Well I was hoping that José Padilla would be here to ask a question but unfortunately I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn’t the theater,” Vance said. “And that’s all it is. I think everybody realizes what this is. It’s pure political theater.”

Vance’s comments allude to Padilla’s forced removal during a news conference on Thursday, June 12, held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Padilla attempted to ask Noem questions during her conference but was forcibly removed from room by security.

Vance and Padilla have worked together in the United States Senate since 2022 before Vance took office as vice president in 2024.

Padilla responded via X on Saturday, June 21, saying, “You know my name, @JDVance. If you want to talk about political theater, let’s start with the thousands of troops that your administration is using as props in Los Angeles.”

When asked why he referred to the senator as “José Padilla” despite his first name being Alejandro, Taylor Van Kirk, spokeswoman for JD Vance, told The Enquirer “He must have mixed up two people who have broken the law.” Van Kirk did not elaborate.

José Padilla was a U.S. citizen who was convicted on charges of supporting al Qaeda after he was initially accused of planning to carry out a “dirty bomb” attack in the U.S., whom many speculate Vance was referring to.

The vice president’s comments have stirred up criticism via social media and with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

“You don’t know his name, but yet you served with him before you were vice president, and you continue to serve with him today. Because the last time I checked, the vice president of the United States is the president of the U.S. Senate,” Bass said. “How dare you disrespect him and call him José, but I guess he just looked like anybody to you.”

The Middletown, Ohio native is currently in Los Angeles to meet with city leaders and military members to discuss current unrest amidst ongoing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protests and raids in Southern California.

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) blasted Vice President JD Vance for referring to him as “Jose Padilla” — a convicted terrorist serving time in prison — saying it shows how “petty and unserious” the current administration is.

Padilla joined MSNBC’s The Weekend on Saturday where he responded to not only Vance’s reference to him, but also the vice president doubling down in a followup statement. Padilla has been at the center of heated debates ever since he was brought to the ground and detained in handcuffs by Secret Service and FBI agents during a press conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on protests against ICE raids in Los Angeles. Padilla said he was only trying to ask a question. He was escorted to the press conference and identified himself.

While in Los Angeles, Vance referenced Padilla, but called him “Jose Padilla” while speaking to press.

“Well, I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here to ask a question. But unfortunately, I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn’t the theater. And that’s all it is, you know. I think everybody realizes that’s what this is, it’s pure political theater,” he said.

“He knows my name. He knows my name,” Padilla said on Saturday. “Look, sadly, it’s just an indicator of how petty and unserious this administration is. But he’s the vice president of the United States. You think he’d take the situation in Los Angeles more seriously. You know, you think maybe he’d take a moment to talk to some of the families who have been impacted, who have been terrorized.”

Padilla argued there are far more pressing issues in California Vance could be commenting on, like rebuilding efforts after the Palisades fires and pressure on workplaces due to current ICE raids.

“We’ve got a lot of important work to do but this is how the vice president chooses to act and that says a lot,” the senator said.

Padilla was asked about another comment by a Vance spokesperson made after his “Jose Padilla” remark. The spokesperson told CNN that the vice president “must have mixed up two people who have broken the law.” A real Jose Padilla was convicted on charges of aiding terrorists and much more.

“I didn’t break any laws,” Padilla simply said in response to Vance’s spokesperson.

Watch above via MSNBC.

Vice President JD Vance bashed Democrats at the state, local and national levels Friday during his visit to Los Angeles, accusing top California officials of encouraging violent protesters and Sen. Alex Padilla, whom he referred to as “José Padilla,” of engaging in “political theater.”

“I was hoping José Padilla would be here to ask a question. But, unfortunately, I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn’t the theater, and that’s all it is,” Vance said. “It’s pure political theater. These guys show up. They want to be captured on camera doing something.”

Vance’s comments referred to an incident last week in which federal law enforcement agents handcuffed Padilla after he interrupted a news conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Padilla was forcibly removed from the event but not arrested.

Vice President JD Vance during a tour of a Federal Mobile Command Center at the Federal Building in Los Angeles, on Friday. Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images

When asked why he referred to the senator as “José Padilla,” despite his first name being Alejandro, Taylor Van Kirk — a spokesperson for Vance — said “he must have mixed up two people who have broken the law.” Van Kirk did not elaborate.

In 2007, a jury convicted U.S. citizen José Padilla on charges of supporting al Qaeda after he was initially accused of planning to carry out a “dirty bomb” attack in the U.S. He was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison; it was later increased to 21 years.

A spokesperson for Sen. Padilla, Tess Oswald, called Vance’s remark “another unserious comment from an unserious administration.”

“As a former colleague of Senator Padilla, the Vice President knows better. He should be more focused on demilitarizing our city than taking cheap shots,” Oswald said on X.

Padilla directly responded to Vance’s comments in a Saturday morning interview on MSNBC, saying that “it’s just an indicator of how petty and unserious this administration is.”

“But he’s the vice president of the United States, you think he’d take the situation in Los Angeles more seriously,” Padilla added. “You think maybe he’d take a moment to talk to some of the families who have been impacted, have been terrorized, to feel what’s really going on on the ground.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom asserted that Vance’s comment about Padilla, a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, was intentional.

“JD Vance served with Alex Padilla in the United States Senate. Calling him ‘Jose Padilla’ is not an accident,” Newsom wrote on X.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass meanwhile condemned Vance for incorrectly naming the senator, saying he aimed to disrespect Padilla.

“You don’t know his name, but yet you served with him before you were vice president, and you continue to serve with him today. Because the last time I checked, the vice president of the United States is the president of the U.S. Senate,” Bass said at a press event Friday evening. “How dare you disrespect him and call him José, but I guess he just looked like anybody to you.”

Vance made the remarks about Padilla and other California Democrats after he toured an FBI mobile command center and met with Marines in Los Angeles, a city where clashes between protesters and law enforcement officials have become a focal point of the opposition to the Trump administration’s immigration agenda.

During the news conference, Vance accused Newsom and Bass, both Democrats who have heavily criticized Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops, of “encouraging” protests that have occasionally turned violent.

“What I see here today is the great tragedy, when a mayor and a governor encourages their citizens to harass and endanger the lives of our police officers and our law enforcement officers. It’s heartbreaking to see, and thank God we’ve got great people who are willing to persevere despite it,” Vance said.

Bass fiercely pushed back on Vance’s characterization, accusing the vice president of “spewing lies and utter nonsense in an attempt to provoke division and conflict in our city.”

“How dare you say that city officials encourage violence? We kept the peace. You know that the federal officials that were here protected a federal building, they were not involved in crowd control. Crowd control was handled most aptly by the Los Angeles Police Department, the sheriff’s department and local law enforcement,” she said.

Newsom and Bass have maintained that violent protests in the city have been confined to a small area, and on Monday Bass lifted a curfew in downtown Los Angeles after a drop in arrests.

Newsom, a potential 2028 presidential contender, said earlier Friday that Vance should spend “quality time” with victims of the wildfires that devastated large parts of Los Angeles this year, pointedly referring to a threat by President Donald Trump to withhold additional wildfire relief because of his “dust-ups” with Newsom.

“I hope you have an opportunity to spend some quality time with some of the victims of the families in the Palisades, and also spend some time in Altadena, which is incredibly important,” Newsom said in a video on X. “It’s also important, as well, and I honestly mean this, that you sit down with the president of the United States, who just a couple days ago suggested that these American citizens may not get the support that other citizens get all across this country in terms of disaster relief.”

Newsom did not receive formal notice about Vance’s trip, his deputy director of communications, Brandon Richards, said in a statement.

“The Governor would welcome the opportunity to meet with the Vice President in service to Californians,” Richards said. “We’re always open to working together — which makes it all the more disappointing that the White House chose not to engage with us directly ahead of the visit.”

Vance’s visit is the latest in the battle between Democrats and the Trump administration over its hard-line deportation policies after an appeals court ruled in the administration’s favor Thursday.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it’s “likely that the President lawfully exercised his statutory authority” in deploying California National Guard troops to respond to protests in Los Angeles. The decision stemmed California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s lawsuit against the Trump administration after Trump sent the troops to the city without Newsom’s approval.

On Tuesday, U.S. Northern Command said it was activating 2,000 additional National Guard troops in Los Angeles to “support the protection of federal functions, personnel, and property in the greater Los Angeles area.” That brings the number of National Guard troops deployed to the city to more than 4,000 since the protests erupted this month. Trump also deployed Marines to assist law enforcement in the response to demonstrations.

Trump and his administration’s immigration actions have sparked outrage among Democratic lawmakers, including Padilla, who was forcibly removed and handcuffed after he tried to question Noem at her news conference last week.

The protests formed after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided three places in central Los Angeles in early June, triggering a domino effect of similar demonstrations nationwide. While the protests have largely dissipated in recent days, the Los Angeles Dodgers said Thursday that they blocked federal immigration agents from entering their stadium after they “requested permission to access the parking lots.”