U.S. Senator Alex Padilla speaks to reporters outside the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building in downtown San Diego on Sept. 24, 2025. Padilla visited the courthouse to observe immigration proceedings as immigration officials, under the direction of the Trump Administration, continue to detain defendants when they show up for their scheduled hearings. Photo by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters
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When Sen. Alex Padilla attended an immigration hearing at the federal courthouse in San Diego Wednesday, there were no confrontations with federal officials and no public arrests of people attending immigration check-ins.
Instead, the visit revealed the confusion involved in legal proceedings conducted in multiple languages, over virtual platforms, amid a federal campaign of mass deportations.
Padilla, a member of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and the senior Democrat on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship and Border Security, said he wanted to observe the issues that people face in immigration proceedings.
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