SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Democratic U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla of California made a surprise visit Thursday to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center at San Francisco International Airport. The senator’s tour comes after a string of immigration arrests at SFO. Padilla is now the second known federal lawmaker to get inside the ICE facility at the busiest Bay Area airport, following Congressman Kevin Mullin’s visit in late August. Federal law allows any member of Congress to be allowed inside a detention facility without notice. In an exclusive video of Padilla gaining access (watch in video player above), the senator is seen approaching the entrance clearly marked as a “restricted area,” with the seal of U.S. Customs and Border Protection on the door. Padilla ends up knocking on several doors with no answer. He then calls the number on the sign. “Hi officers, this is Senator Alex Padilla. I am here, I think at your door at SFO,” the senator said. Manny Yekutiel drops out of District 8 race amid new sexual assault allegations “I know some of my colleagues in Congress have been by here recently,” he continued. U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla of California makes a surprise visit to the ICE detention center at SFO on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. (Photo: KRON4) Eventually, CBP officers came out and talked to the senator before allowing him inside. Joining the KRON4 Morning News on Friday for a live interview, Padilla said his office has heard reports of people being detained at SFO and decided to take a look for himself after landing at the airport Thursday. “This isn’t a formal ICE detention facility, but at times it is used as such,” Padilla commented. The senator said there were not a lot of people at the facility on Thursday during his pop-in tour. "That was just yesterday. That was just a snapshot," he said. During Mullin’s recent visit, the Bay Area congressman said he was shocked by the sleeping conditions and said people are being held at SFO for days on end with different degrees of legal status, including many who are in the country lawfully. "I've seen other facilities where the conditions are much more deplorable," Padilla told KRON4. In January, Padilla and fellow U.S. Senator Adam Schiff toured the largest ICE facility in the state, in California City. At that time, Padilla's office stated, "The Senators pulled back the curtain on the inhumane conditions detained individuals at California City are facing. The Senators investigated reports of unsanitary and unsafe facility conditions, inadequate medical and mental health care, insufficient access to legal counsel, a severe lack of accommodations for people with disabilities, and the unnecessary use of solitary confinement." During Padilla's interview Friday, he noted that at SFO, "CBP folks -- not the ICE folks -- seem to be doing the best they can given the bad hand they've been dealt." “Importantly, we’re doing our job as oversight. We’re able to get access and we’ll keep the spotlight on them,” Padilla said. Ahead of his KRON4 interview, Padilla's office released a statement from the senator: No one in our state or country should have to live in fear of this Administration’s cruelty and attacks on immigrants. And yet, there are extremely concerning reports that valid green card holders and other immigrants are being detained at SFO for days on end without access to adequate medical care or legal representation. Constituents have reached out to my office with serious concerns about what is happening inside immigration detention facilities, including spaces like the one at SFO, and those concerns demand answers. As a United States Senator, I have a constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight, see these facilities firsthand, and hold the federal government accountable for how it treats people in its custody. Today’s visit was an important step in continuing to shine a light on a system enabled by the Trump Administration that operates without transparency or accountability. U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla ...read more read less