Padilla Statement on DHS Review to Root Out Domestic Violent Extremists
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif), a member of the Judiciary and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees, released the following statement after Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas announced an internal review of the agency to address and root out the threat of domestic violent extremism within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS):
“I commend Secretary Mayorkas’ initiative taking a hard look within DHS personnel to determine if there are domestic violent extremists inside the organization. Some of the most concerning revelations of the January 6th insurrection have been reports of Capitol Police members who were sympathetic to the insurrectionists, even posing for photos with them or providing directions. Domestic violent extremism is not a threat limited to any single law enforcement agency. A review of DHS is a good start, but we have a lot of work to do to identify and root out white supremacy and violent extremists from state and local law enforcement agencies across the country.”
Padilla has underscored the need to take the threats of domestic terrorism and white supremacist violence within law enforcement agencies ranks seriously, and has urged law enforcement agencies to eliminate white supremacy and other forms of extremism from their ranks.
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