WATCH: Sen. Padilla’s full Senate floor speech recounting his removal from Noem’s LA briefing

In an emotional speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., on Tuesday recalled his experience at a Homeland Security news conference where he was handcuffed and briefly detained, and called on his fellow lawmakers to imagine what could happen to ordinary Americans when the cameras are turned off.

WATCH: Sen. Padilla forcibly removed after interrupting Homeland Security news conference in LA

“If you watch what unfolded last week and thought, ‘what happened is just about one politician and one press conference,’ you’re missing the point. If that is what the administration is willing to do to a United States senator for having the authority to simply ask a question, imagine what they’ll do to any American who dares to speak up,” Padilla said.

Padilla was forcefully removed from the briefing held by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles last Thursday. Padilla tried to interrupt after Noem said that federal officials would stay in Los Angeles to “liberate” the city from its “socialist” Democratic leaders. He said he was “compelled’ to speak-out.

“When I heard something so blatantly un-American from the secretary of Homeland Security, a Cabinet official, of course I was compelled, both as a senator and as an American to speak up,” Padilla said.

WATCH: What lawmakers said about Sen. Padilla being forcibly removed from DHS news conference

In a video of the encounter, Padilla is seen being pushed away by federal agents after he interrupts the news briefing. He identifies himself as a senator and is taken into a hallway where he is forced to the ground and hand-cuffed. Padilla said that a National Guardsman and FBI agent had been tasked with escorting him but did not intervene.

“You’ve seen the video. I was pushed and pulled, struggled to maintain my balance. I was forced to the ground, first on my knees and then flat on my chest,” Padilla said.

“And as I was handcuffed and marched down a hallway, repeatedly asking, ‘Why am I being detained?’ Not once did they tell me why. I pray you never have a moment like this,” he added. He said he asked himself many questions in that moment, including where he was being taken, what his wife and sons would think, as well as whether speaking out had really been worth it.