On Saturday, April 5th, we rise up with one demand: Hands Off! This is a nationwide mobilization to stop the most brazen power grab in modern history. Trump, Musk, and their billionaire cronies are orchestrating an all-out assault on our government, our economy, and our basic rights—enabled by Congress every step of the way. They want to strip America for parts—shuttering Social Security offices, firing essential workers, eliminating consumer protections, and gutting Medicaid—all to bankroll their billionaire tax scam. They’re handing over our tax dollars, our public services, and our democracy to the ultra-rich. If we don’t fight now, there won’t be anything left to save.

That Louisiana win is a BFD (and a message to Wisconsin and Florida voters: yes we can!)

Activists, powered by Black early voters, defeated maga governor Jeff Landry, including in his own parish...

joyannreid.com

Jeff Landry didn’t even win in his own parish. The Louisiana governor had heavily backed four constitutional amendments, which would have rewritten the rules in the far right wing state on everything from taxation to child incarceration. And in a Saturday election, likely intended to be low turnout, particularly among the state’s 32 percent Black population, it was a rout. [...] Ultimately, the Black-white coalition that soundly defeated Landry is the same one that once made Democrat John Bel Edwards a two-term governor of that state; finally allowing Louisianans to enjoy access to Obamacare, and for a time, to a decline in incarceration, dropping the state out of an ignominious first place in locking its own citizens up. Under Landry, Louisiana is not only back in the mass imprisonment business, two of the amendments would have ratcheted up the carceral state, while also harming the ability of voters to choose the judges presiding over them. [...] And of course under Landry, Louisiana has become THE Trump regime go-to for disappearing the college students snatched on the streets by the ICE secret police.

Fox keeps calling migrants sent to El Salvador prison “criminals” and “terrorists” despite reporting that several deportees were falsely acc

President Donald Trump has deported at least 261 migrants to the CECOT prison in El Salvador, alleging that many of them are connected to th

Media Matters for America

President Donald Trump has deported at least 261 migrants to the CECOT prison in El Salvador, alleging that many of them are connected to the gang Tren de Aragua. However, the lack of due process for these deportees and the flimsy evidence of gang affiliation has raised serious concerns. Many family members of those who were deported to the prison have claimed that their relative has no criminal background and their tattoos were unrelated to any gang.  But Fox News and Fox Business personalities and guests have continued to claim that those in the prison are “terrorists,” the “worst of the worst,” and “criminal aliens.” In one instance, after co-host Jessica Tarlov mentioned the “numerous examples” of people reportedly without criminal histories getting deported, co-hosts Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld attacked her for “showing more sympathy to these illegal alien gangbangers than you showed to American citizens.” Some Fox figures have also celebrated the conditions at CECOT, calling it “hard-core” and comparing the prison to “a scene out of a Mad Max movie.” 

• The Trump administration has deported over 260 individuals to El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT, invoking the 1798 Alien Enemies Act and alleging without clear evidence that deportees are members of Tren de Aragua and other gangs. According to ICE's “Alien Enemies Act Validation Guide” published by the ACLU, “having a tattoo an ICE officer says is a ‘gang tattoo’ and “displaying ‘logos,’ ‘symbols’ or clothes an ICE officer says are gang signs” are reasons for deportation to the prison. Mother Jones noted, “Robert Cerna, an acting field office director for ICE’s removal operations branch, said the agency ‘did not simply rely on social media posts, photographs of the alien displaying gang-related hand gestures, or tattoos alone.’ But Cerna also acknowledged that many of the Venezuelans deported under the Alien Enemies Act had no criminal history in the United States.” CNN has also reported that some of the tattoos used to identify TdA members are common, including “stars on the shoulder, royal crowns, firearms, trains, dice, roses, tigers and jaguars.” [The Associated Press, 3/21/25; CNN, 3/17/25, 3/25/25; Mother Jones, 3/26/25, Bluesky, 3/30/25] 
• Critics of Trump’s policy have argued that he violated the deportees’ rights to due process, as many were removed without proper hearings or substantial evidence. A federal appeals court upheld a district judge’s March 15 order blocking the administration's attempt to continue these deportations, emphasizing the necessity for individuals to have the opportunity to contest their alleged gang affiliations. In response to concerns over due process, Trump “border czar” Tom Homan said, “What were all these young women that were killed and raped by members of (Tren de Aragua) – what was their due process?” Fox News hosts have also defended the Trump administration’s denial of due process for migrants, with Brian Kilmeade arguing that it’s “not practical” to give them due process and Lawrence Jones claiming the U.S. should “revisit” the rights of migrants. [The Associated Press, 3/26/25, 3/25/25; CNN, 3/25/25; Media Matters, 3/28/25] 

• Migrants deported to CECOT face inhumane conditions, including being confined to overcrowded cells for 23 1/2 hours a day. Upon arrival, deportees were immediately subjected to harsh treatment, including being forced to kneel while shackled and being forcibly shaved. Inmates reportedly sleep on metal bunks without mattresses or pillows, have inadequate access to food and health care, and are allowed to leave their cell for only 30 minutes per day. [Mother Jones, 3/26/25; USA Today, 3/22/25; Human Rights Center, 3/25/25]
• ​Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem recently visited the prison and recorded a video in front of a crowded cell, warning that migrants who are deported from the U.S. could get jailed there. Her visit drew criticism from human rights organizations, which labeled the visit as “political theater” and accused the administration of using fear tactics against immigrant communities. [The Guardian, 3/27/25; The New York Times, 3/28/25] 

Thousands of US health agency workers laid off in overhaul led by RFK Jr

Trump administration begins reducing Health and Human Services workforce as Kennedy plans up to 10,000 job cuts

the Guardian

Thousands of Health and Human Services (HHS) employees across the country are being dismissed on Tuesday as the Trump administration began implementing its controversial workforce reduction plan, which could ultimately remove 10,000 staff from the department through forced layoffs. The job cuts mark the first tangible impact of health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s departmental overhaul announced last week, landing just days after Donald Trump moved to strip collective bargaining rights from workers at HHS and other federal agencies. Health department workers lined up outside of federal buildings in Washington DC and Maryland on Tuesday morning, some for hours, as they waited to find out if they were still employed. At least one office employee waved their badge at the entry point to see if a red or green light would appear – indicating if they still had a job or not. One employee, who has been with the department for 20 years and was waiting in line to find out her fate, said her colleagues have known for some time that HHS would be a target under the Trump administration. “It’s in Project 2025,” she said. “Basically since February they’ve been telling us we might be let go.” In the early 2000s, the department was among several others to offer legal reductions of force through voluntary buy-outs and early retirement packages. This time has been different. “We’re being led through a security line like you would if you were at TSA,” the HHS employee, who is a supervisor, said. “We have to take off our shoes, take out our laptops and they have to check our badge to make sure we can swipe it, and then check our names against a list.” Kennedy’s restructuring goal is meant to dramatically reshape the department that oversees the US’s food supply, monitors disease outbreaks, conducts critical medical research, and administers health insurance for nearly half the country. He has also said he will create a new office – “the administration for a healthy America” – which is meant to absorb agencies controlling billions of dollars in funding that manage addiction services and community health centers. When finished, the cuts are expected to reduce HHS staffing from 82,000 to 62,000 positions – slashing nearly a quarter of its workforce through a combination of layoffs and early retirement offers.

Union representatives were notified last Thursday that 8,000 to 10,000 employees would be terminated, with positions in human resources, procurement, finance and IT targeted. Jobs in “high cost regions” and those deemed “redundant or duplicative” will be prioritized for elimination, according to a reduction of force email seen by the Guardian. The department has outlined specific job losses across a number of agencies, including 3,500 positions at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 2,400 at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1,200 at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and 300 at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

• AP, via HuffPost: HHS Layoffs Begin: 10,000 Workers Responsible For Research, Tracking Disease And Regulating Food Cut