Democracy Now!

Fatma Hassona, the 25-year-old Palestinian photojournalist and subject of the upcoming documentary film Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, was killed with her family Wednesday by an Israeli missile that targeted her building in northern Gaza. The strike occurred just one day after she learned that the film centered around her life and work had been selected to premiere at the ACID Cannes 2025 film festival. Director Sepideh Farsi remembers Hassona for her talent, integrity and hope. I can't tell you how devastated I am," says Farsi. She shares that Hassona had joyfully accepted the invitation to Cannes but had emphasized her desire to return to Gaza and remain on her family's land. Farsi adds that there is a chance that Hassona's building had been targeted, given the high number of journalists and photographers in Gaza who have been killed by the Israeli army." In tribute to Hassona's work, we play the trailer to Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk and share a selection of her photography and poetry.

These were otherwise healthy school-age children who didn't have to die." We speak to the world-renowned pediatrician, virologist and vaccine expert, Dr. Peter Hotez, about the dangerous anti-vaccine agenda of Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Amid a growing number of measles cases in the United States, RFK Jr. has promoted skepticism of the efficacy of the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella. At least two unvaccinated children have died from measles, a highly contagious disease that had been effectively eliminated in the U.S. in the past few decades. Hotez, the father of a child on the autism spectrum, also debunks RFK Jr.'s claims that vaccines are linked to autism, and criticizes his deeply offensive" statements about people living with autism. Evoking eugenic beliefs, the HHS secretary, who now holds the power to determine healthcare policy in the United States, shows this consistent lack of intellectual curiosity, this kind of simplistic way of thinking and talking about autism," says Hotez.

U.S. Airstrikes on Yemen Kill at Least 58, Injure Over 100 Others, Palestinian Photojournalist Fatma Hassona Killed with Family in Israeli Attack, Hamas Rejects Interim Israeli Truce Proposals, Seeks Comprehensive and Full End to War, ICC Demands Hungary Justify Its Failure to Act on Netanyahu Arrest Warrant, Sen. Van Hollen Meets with Kilmar Abrego Garcia in El Salvador as Legal Defeats Mount for Trump, New Group of Immigrants Threatened with Removal Under Contested Wartime Act, SCOTUS to Hear Arguments in Trump's Attempt to End Birthright Citizenship, U.S.-Born Man Arrested Under Florida's Latest Anti-Immigrant Law After Crossing State Lines, ICE Signs $30 Million Deal with Palantir as It Expands Mass Surveillance of Immigrants, Zohran Mamdani Joins NYC Jewish Community to Say No Fascists, No Pharaohs" at Passover Action, Boston Jews Call for Release of Rumeysa Ozturk After Judge Denies Bond to Abducted Student, Trump Escalates Attacks on Harvard, Targeting International Students, The Fight to Win All Fights": Students and Faculty Protest Trump Crackdown on Schools, U.S. Judge Rules Google Illegally Operates Online Ad Monopoly, Trump Threatens to Kick Out Federal Reserve Chair Powell, New Rule Threatens Endangered Species by Allowing Industry to Destroy Protected Habitats, Rubio Says U.S. Will Determine in A Matter of Days" If It Should Move On" from Ukraine War, Florida Son of a Sheriff's Deputy Uses Mom's Service Gun to Kill 2 People in Campus Mass Shooting, Grand Jury Indicts Luigi Mangione; Charge Could Lead to Death Sentence

We speak with the award-winning author and journalist Omar El Akkad, whose new book about the war on Gaza is titled One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This. The book expands on a viral tweet El Akkad sent in October 2023, just weeks into Israel's genocidal assault on the Palestinian territory, decrying the muted response to the carnage and destruction unfolding on the ground. He wrote, One day, when it's safe, when there's no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it's too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this." He joins Democracy Now! and says the book explores how people respond to injustice and grapple with their own role in it. It's in large part trying to figure out my place in this society," says El Akkad. I happen to live on the launching side of the missiles, and as a result, it's very, very easy for me to look away. And what happens when you decide you're not going to look away?"

President Trump's Africa envoy Massad Boulos has finished a tour of several East African nations, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he discussed a peace deal that could involve the U.S. tapping the country's rich mineral resources, including cobalt and lithium. Several Western mining companies are already reportedly lined up to take part in the U.S.-backed mineral resources partnership. These people are among the poorest in the world," says Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council. They live on top of the incredible mineral riches that have been plundered by so many companies, so many colonial powers, so many of the neighbors of DRC. I hope the U.S. will really make sure there is an equitable deal, but that can really only happen if there is a peace agreement."

Sudan is facing the world's largest humanitarian crisis after two years of war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF. Thousands have died, and some 13 million have been forcibly displaced. There are also widespread reports of sexual and ethnically motivated violence and a worsening hunger crisis. Emtithal Mahmoud, a Darfurian refugee and humanitarian activist, describes how the violence has impacted her own family, including in a recent RSF attack on the Zamzam refugee camp where fighters killed and tortured many civilians. They kidnapped 58 of the girls in my extended family, and we are still searching for them," says Mahmoud. We need the world to pay attention." Unlike the Darfur crisis of the early 2000s, when it was on the agenda of many world leaders, the current conflict is being largely ignored by the international community, says Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council. It is by far the worst displacement crisis in the world," notes Egeland.

Vince Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, joins us as President Trump's defiance of the courts is pushing the United States toward a constitutional crisis, with multiple judges weighing whether to open contempt proceedings against his administration for ignoring court orders. On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg criticized officials for continuing to stonewall his inquiry into why planes full of Venezuelan immigrants were sent to El Salvador last month even after he ordered the flights halted or turned around midair. Boasberg noted in his order that Trump officials have since failed to rectify or explain their actions," giving the administration until April 23 to respond. This comes as Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador but was blocked from seeing or speaking to Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father who was sent to CECOT on the March flights in what the Department of Homeland Security has admitted was an administrative error." Both the Trump administration and the government of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele have refused to release and return Abrego Garcia. This week, federal Judge Paula Xinis said the administration had made no effort to comply with the order, and said she could begin contempt proceedings. The government is providing no information, not even the most basic factual information about what's been happening," says Warren.

U.S. Judge Finds Probable Cause" to Hold Trump Admin in Contempt over CECOT Transfers, ICE Violently Arrests Massachusetts Man After He Reveals He's Not the Target of Their Search, California Faith Leaders Condemn Plans to Reopen Dublin Prison as ICE Jail, IRS Could Revoke Harvard's Tax-Exempt Status over Refusal to Bend to Trump, DOJ Sues Maine for Refusing to Comply with Anti-Trans Order, Israel's Genocidal Attacks on Gaza Continue, Slaughtering Children, Displaced Palestinians, Dr. Abu Safiya's Lawyer Warns Kamal Adwan Director Is Being Tortured in Prison, Reports: U.S. in Talks with Yemeni Fighters over Possible Ground Attack Against Houthi Movement, Mass Gaza Protests in Karachi; Police Crack Down on Student Protests in Germany, Netherlands, Protesters Arrested on Roof of U.K. Factory That Supplies Israeli Weapons Maker, Prosecutors Seek to Ban Discussion of Gaza at Upcoming Trial of Louisville Five" Protesters, Sudan's RSF Declares Rival Government as Civil War Enters Third Year, Tunisian Opposition Politicians Launch Hunger Strike Amid Mass Trial of Dissidents, Colombian Indigenous Leader's Murder Is Third of the Year, Illegal and Economically Destructive": California Sues Trump over Tariffs, Guards Charged with Murder over Beating Death of New York Prisoner Messiah Nantwi, Puerto Rico's Energy Grid Collapses for Second Time in Four Months

Harvard University has pushed back as President Trump ramps up his attacks on higher education. After Harvard rejected demands by the Trump administration to eliminate all DEI initiatives and further crack down on Palestinian rights protests, including reporting international students to federal authorities, the Trump administration said it's freezing $2.2 billion in federal grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard. University President Alan Garber wrote in a letter to the school community on Monday, The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights."This is an effort to try to take over the ideological agenda of the country by taking over universities," says Andrew Manuel Crespo, professor at Harvard Law School and general counsel of the Harvard faculty chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

In one of its first major actions under the Trump administration, the Federal Trade Commission is arguing Meta has an illegal monopoly in social media and should be forced to divest Instagram and WhatsApp. CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stand Monday as the highly anticipated antitrust trial kicked off in Washington, D.C. If Meta loses the trial, it could be forced to sell off those platforms. We've let one company, one man, influence the information environment for the world," says Frances Haugen, former Facebook employee and whistleblower.

The Trump administration is now seeking to deport Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi, who is being held in a prison in northwest Vermont. He was detained by Homeland Security agents when he went to an immigration services center to take a civics test that is the final step in the process of becoming a naturalized citizen. Mahdawi moved to Vermont from the West Bank in 2014 and has been a legal permanent resident, or green card holder, since 2015.All three members of Vermont's congressional delegation are calling for Mahdawi's release, including Congressmember Becca Balint. This should terrify every single person living in this country, regardless of your citizenship status," says Balint. This is Trump creating his own army of brownshirts right here in our country."

Judge Overseeing Kilmar Abrego Garcia's Case Considers Contempt Charges for U.S. Officials, Judge Blocks Trump's Order Ending Protections for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans & Venezuelans, Do Not Attempt to Remain in the United States": CBP Orders U.S. Citizens to Self-Deport", Video Shows Violent Arrest of Venezuelan Man by Federal Agents Who Wounded Bystander, Republicans Face Protests over Trump's Agenda at Raucous Town Hall Meetings, Israeli War Chief Refuses Calls to End Gaza Siege, U.S. Envoy Says Iran Must Completely End Uranium Enrichment, Trump Escalates Trade War, Saying China Now Faces 245% Tariff, NATO Leader Pledges Support to Kyiv as Trump Blames Ukraine, Not Russia, for Invasion, White House Restricts Access to Wire Service Reporters Including AP and Reuters, Russian Journalists Sentenced to 5+ Years in Prison for Extremism", Hungary Amends Constitution to Ban LGBTQ+ Pride Events, U.K. High Court Ruling Excludes Trans Women from Equality Act Protections, U.S. Threatens Retaliation as U.N. Shipping Agency Reaches Deal to Curb Greenhouse Gases, Climate Activists Demand Protections for Indigenous Communities Ahead of COP30 Summit

A new set of documentaries directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney premieres April 15 and April 16 on HBO. The films in The Dark Money Game series investigate the origins and impacts of campaign finance in the U.S. Our country is being run by a small group of people who have an enormous amount of money, and they dominate our politics," says Gibney. It's almost as if bribery has become utterly legalized. It's pay to play. It's quid pro quo."

As Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa claims victory in a contested election, Noboa's leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez is challenging the results, calling Noboa a dictator" who committed election fraud to be reelected. The widow of former candidate Fernando Villavicencio also released a new video seemingly confirming allegations that Noboa had been involved in an attempt to frame a third candidate for Villavicencio's assassination during the 2023 presidential election. Journalist Jose Olivares, who reported on the allegations for Drop Site, responds to the new video and the Noboa administration's cozying up" to Donald Trump and his allies, including the notorious private military contractor Erik Prince.

We speak to Nayna Gupta, policy director at the American Immigration Council, and Jose Olivares, an award-winning investigative journalist specializing in Latin American politics, about El Salvador's immigrant detention collaboration with the United States. Over 300 people have been disappeared to El Salvador's dangerous maximum-security prisons, including at least one man who was targeted for removal by mistake. U.S. President Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele now say they have no power to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the United States, despite a Supreme Court order to facilitate" his return. What we saw yesterday was political theater and a set of administration officials lying to the American public," says Gupta about Trump and Bukele's meeting Monday in the Oval Office, which was open to the press. Donald Trump and his administration can absolutely bring home Mr. Abrego Garcia. That is well within their power and authority." Olivares recounts the origins of U.S.-Salvadoran collaboration and the Salvadoran government's own close ties to the MS-13 criminal organization.

Hundreds of members of Jewish Voice for Peace in New York protested outside of the office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Monday on the third night of the major Jewish holiday Passover. They gathered in support of a growing number of immigrant activists who have been taken prisoner by ICE, including New York residents Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi, both Palestinian participants of pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University last year. Democracy Now! spoke to some of the Passover Seder attendees. I've always thought of Passover as a celebration of liberation. And liberation can never be just the Jews," said protester Marianne Pita. The only way to fight for liberation is to fight for everybody."

El Salvador's President Rejects Return of Wrongfully Removed Maryland Father, Homegrowns Are Next": Protests Erupt as Trump Proposes Sending U.S. Citizens to Salvadoran Prisons, Trump Orders Military to Take Control of Vast Stretch of Southern Border, Trump Administration Seeks $45 Billion to Expand ICE Detention Centers, ICE Arrests Mohsen Mahdawi, Columbia Protest Leader and Green Card Holder, Jewish Peace Activists Mark Passover with Protest at New York ICE Office, Trump Administration Freezes $2.2 Billion in Grants to Harvard, Citing DEI and Protests, Death Toll from Israel's Assault on Gaza Passes 51,000, Up to 400,000 Displaced as Sudan's Rapid Support Forces Seize Refugee Camp, Killing Hundreds, Pete Marocco Exits State Department After Gutting USAID, Trump Admin Moves to Cancel $9.3 Billion of USAID, Public Media Funds, Jury Selection Opens in Retrial of Sarah Palin's Defamation Suit Against New York Times, On Tax Day, IRS Workers Brace for Mass Layoffs, Zuckerberg Takes Stand in Meta Antitrust Trial

As the Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast Suave returns for its second season, we speak with journalist Maria Hinojosa and David Luis Suave" Gonzalez, the subject of the series. Gonzalez was sentenced to life in prison at age 17, but got an unexpected second chance when he was paroled in 2017 following a Supreme Court ruling that found sentences like his unconstitutional. The first season of the podcast followed Gonzalez's case, his decadeslong friendship with Hinojosa and his eventual release from prison. The second season looks at how his freedom is complicated by the long shadow of prison. I'm on parole for the rest of my life. That's not freedom," Gonzalez tells Democracy Now! If somebody makes a false phone call and says, 'He looked at me wrong, I feel a threat,' I could go back to prison. ... When the United States Supreme Court said that it was unconstitutional to keep a juvenile in prison for life, then it should be unconstitutional to keep that same juvenile on parole for life."

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele is meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, part of a growing alliance between the two right-wing leaders. In recent months, El Salvador has imprisoned hundreds of people for the Trump administration who were expelled from the United States with little or no due process, ending up in the brutal mega-prison known as CECOT. One of those men is Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom the Trump administration deported despite a protective order meant to prevent his removal from the country. The Trump administration has so far refused to bring Abrego Garcia back, despite a unanimous Supreme Court ruling ordering the government to facilitate" his return. Bukele, who has described himself as the world's coolest dictator," has ruled for years under a state of emergency in El Salvador, imprisoning tens of thousands of people without trial as part of a supposed war on gangs. Never did I imagine that we would be in a situation where the Trump administration, the United States, is looking to El Salvador, to the Bukele administration, saying, 'Huh, we kind of like what you are doing,'" says Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa, who just returned from a reporting trip to El Salvador.

We get an update on the case of Mahmoud Khalil from Diala Shamas, senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights and part of Khalil's legal team. An immigration judge in Louisiana ruled Friday that the Trump administration has grounds to deport Khalil for taking part in Gaza student protests, despite being a legal permanent resident of the United States. The government's evidence in the case consists of a two-page memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio conceding that Khalil has no criminal history and that the U.S. is seeking to deport him based purely on his beliefs, statements, or associations." Despite the setback, Khalil still has a separate case playing out in New Jersey, where lawyers are challenging the legality of his detention. We are moving with urgency. The government is trying to slow down the case in federal court and speed it up in immigration court," says Shamas, who notes that throughout his detention, Khalil has continued to highlight the U.S.-backed Israeli war on Gaza. That is the reason that he and many others are being subject to this retaliatory policy of arresting, detaining and transferring people simply for their protest."

Israel Bombs Last Functioning Hospital in Northern Gaza, 1,600 Israeli Ex-Soldiers and Intelligence Agents Demand End to Assault on Gaza, Return of Hostages, Houthis Say U.S. Attacks on Yemen Killed Seven, Wounded 29, 34 Killed, Over 100 Injured in Sumy, Ukraine, as Russia Bombs Palm Sunday Celebrations, U.S. Demands Control Over Ukrainian Gas Pipeline as Part of Arms-for-Minerals Deal, Trump Administration Ends Protected Status for Cameroonian and Afghan Immigrants, Judge Rules Trump Admin Can Deport Mahmoud Khalil for His Beliefs, State Dept. Has No Evidence Tying Abducted Tufts Student Rumeysa Ozturk to Antisemitic" Activity, Trump Hosts El Salvador's Bukele at White House Amid Uproar over U.S. Transfers to CECOT, Judge Rules Against Religious Groups, Says ICE Can Raid Houses of Worship, Trump Exempts Smartphones and Other Electronics from Steep Tariffs on China, Democrats Dig In on Suspected Insider Trading by Trump Associates Amid Tariffs Roller Coaster, Trump Plans for More Cuts to Federal Climate Science Research, Trump Moves to Get Rid of Head Start, Which Offers Free Child Care to Poor Families, Bernie Sanders and AOC Address L.A. Crowd of 36,000 as Part of Fighting Oligarchy" Tour, Ecuadorian Presidential Challenger Alleges Fraud After Incumbent Noboa Wins Reelection, Gabon Coup Leader Brice Oligui Nguema Wins Presidential Election, Suspect Charged in Arson Attack on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro's Home, Firing Squad Executes South Carolina Prisoner Mikal Mahdi, Protest in Cambridge Demands Harvard Refuse to Comply with Trump Threats

A feature film about life in the occupied West Bank, The Teacher, opens in New York tonight and in theaters across the U.S. next week. The film, which is inspired by true events, centers a Palestinian schoolteacher who struggles to reconcile his commitment to political resistance with supporting his student. It's a fiction narrative, this film, but it is deeply, deeply rooted in reality," says Farah Nabulsi, director of The Teacher, which is partially based on the 2011 prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel, in which one Israeli soldier was exchanged for over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. Nabulsi and Saleh Bakri, the acclaimed Palestinian actor who stars in The Teacher, speak to Democracy Now! about the resonance of the film in the midst of Israel's genocide in Gaza. The occupation wants us separated," Bakri says. I want to dismantle these checkpoints ... I dream of Palestinians coming together again."

Microsoft fired two workers who protested the company's ties to Israel's assault on Gaza at its 50th anniversary celebration last Friday. The workers protested after leaked documents revealed that Microsoft supplies the Israeli military with AI and cloud technology, as well as an Air Force unit known as the Ofek, to build kill lists." We wanted everyone to know that Microsoft's cloud and AI are the bombs and bullets of the 21st century," says Vaniya Agrawal, No Azure for Apartheid organizer and a former Microsoft employee who was fired after disrupting an April 4 discussion between current and former Microsoft CEOs, including Bill Gates.

A lawyer who represents a pro-Palestinian student protester in Michigan was detained Sunday at the Detroit Metro Airport on his way back from a family vacation. Dearborn attorney Amir Makled was separated from his wife and children and asked to surrender his cellphone by Border Patrol agents. This wasn't something that was random," says Makled. They had a whole profile about me." He was eventually released after 90 minutes of questioning and refusing to provide sensitive client information to the agents. Makled believes he was targeted due to his involvement in cases that challenge the current administration of President Donald Trump.

In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court has ordered the Trump administration to facilitate" the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States, after the Maryland resident was denied due process rights and deported to the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador. But the court remains vague on how exactly this would happen, and the Trump administration has claimed it has no way of ensuring his safe return. Elsewhere, a federal immigration judge in Louisiana is set to rule today on whether the Trump administration has grounds to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent resident of the United States who was involved in a campus protest at Columbia University. Ahead of today's ruling, Secretary of State Marco Rubio filed a short memo that concedes Khalil has no criminal history, and argues he should be deported as part of U.S. efforts to combat antisemitism. We speak to attorney Ramzi Kassem, who is part of Khalil's legal team, about the cases of Abrego Garcia and Khalil. Kassem says the Supreme Court decision on Abrego Garcia's case is a step in the right direction and will hopefully lead to his return home."

China Hikes Up Tariffs Against U.S. to 125% Amid Escalating Trade War, Democrats to Investigate Trump Allies for Insider Trading over Tariffs, SCOTUS Orders Trump Admin to Return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to U.S. from El Salvador's CECOT Prison, Avelo Airlines Faces Protests, Boycotts After Agreeing to Use Planes for Deportations, U.S. Admits It's Seeking to Deport Mahmoud Khalil for His Beliefs Ahead of Key Ruling, Israel Kills More Palestinians in Gaza, Including Children, as It Presses Ahead with Rafah Seizure, Ahmad Manasra, Jailed by Israel When He Was 13, Freed After Decade Behind Bars, Activists Protest Travis Air Base; Greenpeace UK Activists Dye U.S. Embassy Pond Blood Red, Sudan Tells World Court the UAE Is Abetting Genocide as Civil War Nears 2nd Anniversary, Ukraine's Allies Gather to Rally Military Support for Kyiv Amid Stalled Ceasefire, House GOP Passes Voter ID Bill That Critics Say Would Disenfranchise Millions, Guilty of Treason": Trump Orders DOJ Probe into Two Former Officials Who Criticized Him, Democrats Attempt to Push Elon Musk Out of Trump Administration by May 30, House GOP Passes Budget Bill to Slash Federal Spending and Taxes on the Wealthy, Death Toll in Dominican Republic Nightclub Disaster Rises to 221, New Zealand Lawmakers Reject Bill to Roll Back Mori Rights

Columbia University professor Marianne Hirsch's new article in The Forward is titled I grew up under a terrifying authoritarian regime. Mahmoud Khalil's arrest is right out of their playbook." She tells Democracy Now! that seeing footage of the ICE arrests of Khalil and Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk brought back these feelings of terror that I had as a child." Hirsch grew up in Romania under the authoritarian regime of Nicolae Ceauescu and says she sees parallels between the climate of fear she was raised in and the repression of speech and protest on campuses today. Hirsch, who is Jewish, condemns the anticipatory capitulation" of universities, like Columbia, to the Trump administration's threats to pull funding and says the reason for this was never to fight antisemitism, but it was to decimate academia."

As the U.S. and Iran prepare for talks this weekend in Oman to discuss Iran's nuclear weapons program, we speak to journalist Negar Mortazavi about the Trump administration's negotiation strategy of threats and pressure" and his diplomatic doctrine of peace through strength." Mortazavi is skeptical that the talks will result in Iran giving up its nuclear weapons program, as Trump's team is demanding, and comments on the impacts of severe sanctions on Iran, which have devastated the country's fragile economy.

President Trump has announced a 90-day pause on new tariffs for most countries and a steep increase to tariffs on China. The 125% tariff rate on China comes after China retaliated in an escalating trade war between the two largest economies in the world. For most other countries, a 10% tariff remains in place, but higher tariffs were paused just hours after they went into effect, causing global stock markets to shoot back up after a historic plunge. We speak with two economists, Nancy Qian and Joseph Stiglitz, about the chaos" of the week since Trump's initial unveiling of his tariff plan on April 2, which he termed Liberation Day." There is no economic theory behind what he is doing," says Stiglitz. He calls Trump a schoolyard bully" who is upending international markets based on a flawed understanding of the role of trade deficits and the feasibility of reintroducing manufacturing to the U.S. economy. We've just never seen anything like this before," says Qian, who adds that China appears to be digging in for the long, drawn-out trade war that Trump has now ignited.

Trump's Trade U-Turn Lowers Tariffs to 10% for Most Countries, Hikes Them to 125% for China, Israel Kills at Least 35 People in Shuja'iyya Attack as Israeli Forces Prepare to Seize Rafah, Deepening Hunger in Gaza as Israel's Illegal Blockade Stretches Through Sixth Week, U.S. Senate Confirms Christian Zionist Mike Huckabee as Israel Ambassador, U.S. Continues Air Attacks on Yemen, Killing at Least 16 People Since Tuesday, U.S. Treasury Levies New Sanctions Against Iran Ahead of Nuclear Negotiations, DOGE Reverses Death Sentence" Aid Cuts for Several Nations, But Not Yemen or Afghanistan, 8 People Died in South Sudan While Forced to Walk 3 Hours for Care After U.S. Aid Cuts, Federal Judges Temporarily Block Deportations of Some Immigrants Under 1798 Wartime Law, USCIS to Screen Immigrants' Social Media Sites for So-Called Antisemitic Activity, Germany's Christian Democratic Union Forms Governing Coalition with Social Democrats, Children and Babies Suffer Malnutrition in Greek Refugee Camp, Mexican President Rejects Potential U.S. Drone Strikes on Drug Cartels, House Speaker Johnson Delays Vote on Budget Framework Amid Far-Right Revolt, Trump Orders DOJ to Block States from Enforcing Climate Laws, Trump Executive Orders Seek to Boost U.S. Coal Production and Consumption

As federal agencies face crippling cuts and are forced to cut essential services, President Trump has announced he will seek a $1 trillion budget for the Pentagon, a record-setting number that would mark the highest level of U.S. defense spending since World War II. William Hartung, a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, blasts the promised budget as completely unnecessary" and says that almost the only beneficiaries are going to be the weapons manufacturers." Hartung also discusses the growing political influence of Silicon Valley defense technology startups, including Alex Karp's Palantir and Elon Musk's SpaceX.

An immigration judge has announced she could rule as early as Friday on whether the Trump administration can continue to detain Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University student protest leader incarcerated at an immigrant detention center in Louisiana. Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the United States, was seized by federal agents on March 8 and told his green card had been revoked. His case comes as many legal scholars say the country is facing a constitutional crisis on a number of fronts - from the Trump administration's threats to ignore judicial decisions, to its targeting of law firms, to its use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to expel Venezuelan immigrants without due process. Trump is trying to neutralize the opposition," says David Cole, professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and former ACLU national legal director. He wants to violate the law with impunity."

Stock Markets Plummet as President Trump's Sweeping Tariffs Take Effect, Israeli Strikes on Gaza City Residences Kill Dozens, with Scores Trapped Under Rubble, Autopsy Shows 17-Year-Old Palestinian Starved to Death in Israeli Prison, Family Demands U.S. Probe into Israel's Killing of 14-Year-Old Palestinian American, A Death Sentence for Millions": WFP Asks Trump to Reverse Cuts to Emergency Food Aid, Trump Cancels Deportation Relief for 900,000 Immigrants, IRS Acting Administrator Quits over Agreement to Share Immigrants' Tax Data with ICE, New York Mayor Eric Adams Orders Rikers Jail to Reopen ICE Office, Judge Sets Deadline for Evidence in Mahmoud Khalil Deportation Case, Judge To Consider Release of Tufts University Student Rumeysa Ozturk, Video Shows Masked Federal Agents Ambushing Georgetown Professor Badar Khan Suri, Trump Administration Freezes Nearly $2 Billion in Funding to Northwestern, Cornell Universities, Panamanians March in Protest as Hegseth Promises to Take Back" the Panama Canal, Russian Drones Strike Dnipro and Kharkiv as Ukraine Prepares to Negotiate Minerals Deal with U.S., Supreme Court Will Allow Trump Administration to Fire 16,000 Probationary Workers, Elon Musk Mocks Peter Navarro as Fractures Open Within Trump Administration over Tariffs, Federal Judge Orders White House to Restore Access to AP, Citing First Amendment

There has been a systemic erasure of Black history." Professor Christina Greer discusses the Trump administration's crackdown on free speech and efforts to whitewash American history. The erasure of the history of racism and resistance is not only intellectually dishonest, says Greer, but will also cause the U.S. economic and social harm. We can't move forward as a nation collectively ... if we don't understand our collective past," she says.

The Supreme Court has paused a lower court order that instructed the Trump administration to immediately bring back a U.S. legal resident who was mistakenly" sent to El Salvador, giving the court more time to deliberate on the case. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was expelled from the U.S. on March 15 despite holding protected status, will continue to languish under dangerous conditions in a Salvadoran maximum-security prison. The Trump administration claims it's powerless to bring him back to his family in Maryland. They have dug in their heels at every step of the way," says Abrego Garcia's lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, about the government's defense. It's ridiculous that this case is at the Supreme Court at all."Behind Abrego Garcia's ICE arrest and removal is Trump's invocation of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, a wartime authority last deployed during World War II. In a separate ruling, the Supreme Court has approved of the Trump administration's removals of Venezuelan immigrants, but said that those targeted must be given an opportunity to challenge their removal. So far, immigrants expelled to El Salvador have been largely denied their legal rights and detained without clear evidence. They are then incarcerated in the country's mega-prisons," where rights abuses have flourished under El Salvador's state of exception." These conditions constitute, under international law, forced disappearances," says Noah Bullock, executive director of Cristosal, a human rights organization in Central America.

As workers brace for uncertainty and fallout from Trump's tariffs, we hear from two autoworkers, one in Mexico and one in the United States. Israel Cervantes, founder of the National Independent Union for Workers in the Automotive Industry in Mexico, calls for unions across North America to unite against the tariffs, which have already led to layoffs from auto manufacturers. In the U.S., autoworker and UAW member Sean Crawford joins Democracy Now! on his work break to respond to the rhetoric and impact of the tariffs. They are always harping on foreigners, foreigners, foreigners. But what about the capitalists?" says Crawford, who urges international solidarity against corporations' attempts to sow division among exploited workers. This nationalistic viewpoint has not been working for us and has resulted in a lot of these layoffs," he says. I want to see us grow together as a working class."

Trump Hosts Netanyahu at White House, Reiterates Plan to Expel Palestinians from Gaza, Israeli Attacks on Gaza Kill 58 Palestinians in a Day, Including Journalist Ahmed Mansour, Palestinian Red Crescent Calls for Independent Probe into Killing of 15 Paramedics, Not in Our Name": Protesters Decry U.S.-Backed Assault on Gaza, Microsoft Fires Two Employees Who Protested Use of AI by Israeli Military, Supreme Court Allows Trump to Continue Using Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to Deport Immigrants, ICE Releases Mother and Three Children Jailed After Raid on New York Dairy Farm, Dominican Republic Hardens Border with Haiti as Asylum Seekers Flee Gang Violence, Trump Threatens to Hike Tariffs on Beijing to 104% as Tit-for-Tat Trade War Escalates, Appeals Court Reinstates Two Labor Officials Fired by Trump, DOJ Is Not a Personal Favor Bank for the President": Fired Employee Speaks Out Despite Intimidation

Global stocks continue to fall, and fears of a recession are growing, after Donald Trump rejected calls to scale back his order to institute sweeping tariffs on most of the world. The move will be especially perilous for small, heavily indebted countries in the Global South who face punitive tariffs, including rates of 49% for Cambodia, 37% for Bangladesh and 48% for Laos. What is really striking is not the sheer stupidity of it ... but the wanton cruelty of it," says Jayati Ghosh, economics professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

An estimated 1 million protested across the United States and around the world Saturday to tell President Donald Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk Hands Off!" They rallied in opposition to the Trump administration's dismantling of federal agencies and programs, the war in Gaza and attacks on LGBTQ+ people, immigrants, education, healthcare and reproductive rights. We hear voices from the coordinated Hands Off!" nationwide protests, described as the largest demonstrations to date since Trump returned to office.

Outrage is growing over Israel's killing of 15 Palestinian medics and rescue workers north of the Gazan city of Rafah in the predawn hours of March 23. Israel initially claimed the convoy had suspiciously approached troops without headlights or flashing lights, but video footage shows the ambulances had their lights on when Israeli troops opened fire, unleashing a barrage of bullets. A paramedic who was inside the vehicle when it came under fire recorded the video on a cellphone and was among the 15 aid workers killed and buried in an unmarked mass grave. Diana Buttu, a Palestinian human rights attorney, calls the killing the height of dehumanization."

Massive Anti-Trump Protests Take Over Streets Nationwide, Global Stocks Plunge from U.S. Tariffs Amid Reports of Rifts in Trump's Team, Israel Kills Another 56 Palestinians in Gaza, Including Journalist Helmi al-Faqawi, Who Was Burned Alive, Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian American Teenager in Occupied West Bank, Deeply Concerning": Israel Denies Entry to Two British Lawmakers on Parliamentary Delegation, Heavy Rains Complicate Earthquake Recovery in Burma; Trump Admin Fires 3 USAID Relief Workers, 19 People Killed, Half of Them Children, in Russian Attack on Ukraine's Kryvyi Rih, Heavy Flooding Kills 33 in Kinshasa; U.S. and DRC Reportedly on Cusp of Minerals-for-Security Deal, Latest U.S. Strikes in Yemen Kill at Least 4 After Earlier Strike Said to Have Hit Large Eid Celebration, Shocks the Conscience": Judge Slams Expulsion of Maryland Father to El Salvador, Orders His Return, U.S. Halts and Revokes Visas for South Sudanese Citizens, Chinese Woman Dies by Suicide While in Border Patrol Custody, Trump Admin Continues Crackdown on International Students, Threatens to Withhold Funds from Brown, Major Storms in Central U.S. Kill at Least 18 People, RFK Jr. Attends Texas Funeral of Second Unvaccinated Child to Die of Measles as He Backs Vaccine, Head of National Museum of African American History Steps Down Amid Trump Attack on Smithsonian

Can't Look Away: The Case Against Social Media is a new documentary that exposes the real-life consequences of the algorithms of Big Tech companies and their impact on children and teens. In 2022, social media companies made an estimated $11 billion advertising to minors in the U.S., where 95% of teenagers use social media. One in three teens uses social media almost constantly. These products, they're not designed to hook us, adults," says Laura Marquez-Garrett, an attorney at the Social Media Victims Law Center in Seattle who is featured in Can't Look Away. They are designed to hook children."

Longtime immigrant farmworker and organizer Alfredo Lelo" Juarez Zeferino was pulled over last week by a plainclothes agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in an unmarked car who broke his car window and forcibly detained him. Within not even a minute of interaction, of getting pulled over, he was already in handcuffs," says Edgar Franks, the political director of independent farmworkers union, Familias Unidas por la Justicia, which he co-founded with Lelo. The reason of his detainment was because of how politically active he was." Lelo is currently jailed at the privately run Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, where hundreds have rallied in support of his release.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in a case that may cut off Planned Parenthood from Medicaid funding. Planned Parenthood says the move violates the Medicaid Act's free choice of provider" provision, which says patients are entitled to choose their own doctors. The case, brought by the state of South Carolina, could impact the care of low-income patients who rely on Planned Parenthood for a range of non-abortion services, including cancer screenings and full physical exams. Federal law already bans Medicaid from funding abortions for patients in most cases. South Carolina had a hard time trying to prove that it had a right to take away the dignity of patients who choose to go to Planned Parenthood," says Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Many Children Among the 112+ Palestinians Killed over Past Day in Israel's Escalating Gaza Attacks, 15 Senators Vote Against $8.8 Billion Arms Sale to Israel, Global Markets, Future of International Trade in Turmoil After Trump Tariffs, South Korean Court Removes Disgraced President Yoon Suk Yeol over Martial Law Decree, At Least 16 Asylum Seekers Drown in Pair of Shipwrecks Near Turkey and Greece, Trump Fires National Security Council Officials Deemed Disloyal" by Far-Right Activist, Pentagon IG to Probe Pete Hegseth's Use of Signal App to Discuss War Plans, Education Department Warns Public Schools to End DEI Programs or Lose Funding, DOGE Gains Access to Personal Records of Unaccompanied Immigrant Children, ICE Arrests 37 Workers at Washington State Roofing Company, Senate Confirms Dr. Mehmet Oz to Lead Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Judge Blocks Trump Administration's Freeze on $11 Billion in Health Funding, Central U.S. Faces Flooding After Storms Spawn Nearly 100 Tornadoes

We speak with New York Immigration Coalition President Murad Awawdeh about a mother and three children who were swept up in an ICE raid not far from the home of Trump's border czar" Tom Homan in Sackets Harbor, New York, handcuffed and taken to a family detention center in Texas despite having no order of deportation. A protest calling for the family's return is planned for this Saturday, and the mayor has called a state of emergency. Awawdeh also responds to what appears to be a pattern of collaboration with the Trump administration's mass deportation plan among local leaders and institutions in New York, from Eric Adams's mayoral administration to Columbia University. Adams had federal corruption charges against him dropped after agreeing to support increased immigration enforcement, while Columbia had federal funding restored after allowing ICE officers to carry out arrests and searches on campus and in university-owned housing.

Jewish students at Columbia University chained themselves to a campus gate across from the graduate School of International and Public Affairs Wednesday, braving rain and cold to demand the school release information related to the targeting and ICE arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a former SIPA student. Democracy Now! was at the protest and spoke to Jewish and Palestinian students calling on the school to reveal the extent of its involvement in Khalil's arrest.

As President Trump finally unveils his global tariff plan - setting a baseline 10% tariff on all imported goods, with additional hikes apparently based on individual countries' trade balances with the United States - economists like our guest Richard Wolff warn it will have grave economic effects on American consumers and lead to a recession. Wolff says the Trump administration's tariff strategy is borne out of an ahistorical notion of the United States as a victim" despite the fact that we have been one of the greatest beneficiaries in the last 50 years of economic wealth, particularly for people at the top." In response to the growing economic fortunes of the rest of the world and the associated decline in U.S. hegemony, Trump and his allies are striking out at other people" in desperation and denial of an end to U.S. imperial dominance. [It's] not going to work," says Wolff.

Netanyahu Wants to Further Divide Gaza Strip as Daily Genocidal Attacks Continue, Israeli Attack on Syria Kills 9; Suspected U.S. Strike on Yemen Kills 5, Hungary Withdraws from ICC as Orban Hosts Netanyahu, Wanted on War Crimes Warrant, Columbia Students Chain Themselves to Gates to Protest University Collaboration with ICE, Trump Slaps Blanket Tariffs on All Imported Goods, Hikes Up Reciprocal Tariffs" on Trade Partners, Disability Groups Sue Social Security Administration over Service Cuts Amid Web Portal Crashes, NYC Mayor Eric Adams Announces Reelection Bid After Judge Drops Corruption Charges, Court Orders Trump Administration to Restore Legal Aid to Unaccompanied Immigrant Children, Burmese Junta Declares 20-Day Ceasefire as Earthquake Toll Tops 3,000, Pakistan Begins Mass Deportation of 3 Million Afghan Refugees, U.N. Chief Warns South Sudan Against Return to Civil War, Amazon Makes Bid to Buy TikTok with U.S. Ban Set to Take Effect on Saturday, Mourners Demand Justice for Murdered Indigenous Teen Emily Pike, Haitian Human Rights Champion Mario Joseph Dies in Car Crash

Since President Donald Trump took office, the U.S. has expelled hundreds of immigrants and asylum seekers to El Salvador without due process to be detained at the supermax mega-prison complex known as CECOT, with many of them accused of belonging to gangs largely on the basis of having tattoos. The Trump administration recently admitted in a court filing that a Salvadoran father with protected status was among those sent to El Salvador. Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia lived in Maryland with his family and had been granted protected status in 2019, blocking the federal government from removing him. Despite admitting to an administrative error," the Trump administration says it will not seek to return Abrego Garcia to his family. Every single day now, new stories are coming out showing that they made a lot of mistakes," says Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council. Their goal is to ramp up deportations and arrests as quickly as they can, and if that leads to a bunch of innocent people getting swept up alongside, the message that the White House is sending is they don't care."