This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"
Monday, April 7, 2025. Chump hides out in Florida while Americans across the country stand up, 60 MINUTES reports on the reality of Chump's deportations, Chump again disrespects US troops, and much more.
Last night, 60 MINUTES (CBS) explored the 300 Venezuelans deported to an El Salvador Gulag -- 75% of which (179) have no prison records here or in Venezuela. .
Three weeks ago, 238 Venezuelan migrants were flown from Texas to a maximum security prison in El Salvador.
That country's president offered to take them and the Trump administration used a law not invoked since World War II to send them -- claiming they are all terrorists and violent gang members.
The government has released very little information about the men. But through internal government documents, we have obtained a list of their identities and found that an overwhelming majority have no apparent criminal convictions or even criminal charges.
They are now prisoners.
Among them: a makeup artist, a soccer player and a food delivery driver, being held in a place so harsh that El Salvador's justice minister once said the only way out is in a coffin.
The shackled men were forced to lower their heads and bodies as they were unloaded from buses and taken to El Salvador's mega prison, known as the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT.
Andry Hernandez Romero was among them.
Lindsay Toczylowski: Andry is a 31-year-old Venezuelan. He's a makeup artist. He is a gay man. He loves to do theatre. He was part of a theatre troupe in his hometown.
Lindsay Toczylowski, Andry's attorney, says he does not have a criminal record in the United States or Venezuela. She says he left his home country last year because he was targeted for being gay and for his political views.
Last May, Andry made the long trek north through the Darien Gap to Mexico, where he eventually got an appointment to seek asylum in the United States. At a legal border crossing near San Diego, he was taken into custody while his case was processed.
Cecilia Vega: Did he have a strong asylum case?
Lindsay Toczylowski: We believe he did have a strong asylum case. He had also done a credible fear interview, which is the very first part of seeking asylum in the United States. And the government had found that his threats against him were credible, and that he had a real probability of winning an asylum claim.
But last month Andry did not appear for a court hearing.
Lindsay Toczylowski: Our client, who was in the middle of seeking asylum, just disappeared. One day he was there, and the next day we're supposed to have court, and he wasn't brought to court.
Cecilia Vega: You use the word "disappeared."
Lindsay Toczylowski: Yeah, I use that word because that's what happened.
But Andry did appear in photos taken by Time magazine photographer Philip Holsinger, who was there when the Venezuelans arrived at CECOT.
Holsinger told us he heard a young man say: "I'm not a gang member. I'm gay. I'm a stylist." And that he cried for his mother as he was slapped and had his head shaved.
By comparing Holsinger's photographs to photos of Andry's tattoos taken by the government, we were able to confirm that this is Andry. His lawyer, who is representing him pro bono, had never seen these photos before.
Lindsay Toczylowski: It's horrifying to see someone who we've met and know as a sweet, funny artist, in the most horrible conditions I could imagine.
Cecilia Vega: You fear for Andry's safety in there?
Lindsay Toczylowski: Absolutely. We have grave concerns about whether he can survive.
If you're on US soil, this should alarm and frighten you. This is not how our country historically acts. And Convicted Felon Donald Chump would love to expand on the deportations. Billal Rahman (NEWSWEEK) explains:
President Donald Trump has signaled his support for sending American citizens to El Salvador's notorious super prison.
Why It Matters
The White House administration sent hundreds of people onboard two flights in March to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador, despite a judge ordering the government to halt the planes. The Trump administration claimed the men were suspected of being part of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang.
U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg issued an order temporarily halting the government's use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act while its actions were being challenged in court.
Photographer Philip Holsinger was at the gulag when the deportees arrived and he shared with 60 MINUTES what he saw and heard.
Hands Off immigrants! That's one of the demands some taking part Saturday in the Hands Off protestes around the country demanded.
John Yang (PBS NEWSHOUR) explaineds, "People across the country and around the world turned out on Saturday for what organizers say has been the single biggest day of protests against President Trump and his second-term actions. In the U.S., more than a thousand rallies were planned in small towns and major cities from coast to coast." NPR has a photo essay here and THE GUARDIAN's photo essay is here.
In DC, US House of Representative members Ilhan Omar, Jamie Raskin and Eric Swalwell joined thousands to speak out and stand up. Robert Tait (GUARDIAN) reports:
Demonstrators estimated to be in the tens of thousands gathered in Washington on Saturday in a display of mass dissent against Donald Trump’s policies that organizers hoped would snowball into a rolling cycle of protests that could eventually stymie the US president in next year’s congressional elections.
Anger with Trump and his billionaire lieutenant, the SpaceX and Tesla entrepreneur Elon Musk, was expressed in a sea of placards and banners on the Washington mall, in the shadow of the Washington monument. Multiple messages denounced the two men for shuttering government agencies, cutting jobs and services and – in often graphic terms – for threatening the survival of US democracy.
“Resist like it’s 1938 Nazi Germany” and “Fascism is alive and well and living in the White House”, read two slogans at the Hands Off gathering, organized by the civil society group Indivisible and featuring speeches from a host of other organizations as well as Democratic members of Congress.
ABC NEWS quotes US House Rep Jamie Raskin pointing out, "Our founders wrote a Constitution that did not begin with 'We the dictators'," NBC NEWS quotes American Federation of Government Employees President Everett B. Kelley declaring, "We will not be silenced. We will not bow down. We'll stand up and say, 'Hands off our union.' We'll stand up and say, 'Hands off our contract.' We'll stand up and say, 'Hands off our democracy, hands off our freedom'." BBC NEWS quotes US House Rep Maxwell Frost telling the DC crowd, "When you steal from the people, expect the people to rise up. At the ballot box and in the streets."
From the nation's capital to California's, Nijzel Dotson and Andres Valle (KCRA) report on Sacramento's event:
According to a permit with the California Highway Patrol, organizers initially expected at least 1,000 people at the Capitol. One organizer told KCRA 3's Andres Valle that there were at least 3,000 attendees at one point.
"Having a picnic provided us to do what we're planning, which is to get the community to interact more with each other. To get people who even aren't sure where to start in this kind of work involved in small little ways," said Nancy Culpepper the event organizer.
Also in California, thousands marched in Oakland and hundreds in San Jose. Thousands turned out in San Francisco where we gathered at Civic Plaza. Signs bored messages such as "Putin Owns Trump," "Stop Fascism Support Love," "Make America Think Again," "I Didn't Elect DOGE, did you?," Dump Trump," "We Support Federal Workers," "HANDS OFF our future our rights our democracy our healthcare social security our public library our schools . . .," "No Teenie Weenie Mussolini," "Healthcare Is A Human Right," "Hands Off Our Immigrants," "Trump Is A Nazi," "The Musk Stinks In Here," "Good Trouble" a drawing of Musk with a black mask and the term "Grifter" and "Republicans, You Can Fight This Coup Too." Molly Burke and Danielle Echeverria (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE) report:
As a marching band played and cars passing on Polk Street honked repeatedly, burlap-clad protesters calling themselves the Climate Lamenters stood with an effigy labeled “Climate Chaos.” Other lamenters wore signs decrying melting glaciers, tornadoes, forced migration, heat domes and other climate disasters. “We express the grief and anxiety many of us hold over the impacts of climate change,” the group’s flyer said.
A longtime San Francisco resident in her 70s, who declined to give her name for fear of jeopardizing funding for a nonprofit she founded, said she “had to” show up to this protest. She has not demonstrated since the Women’s March during Trump’s first term and, before that, protests against the Vietnam War.
“It’s a mess,” she said. “A lot of us are going to be OK, but there are a lot of us that are not.”
[. . .]
State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, celebrated the turnout of the protest, saying the mobilization against the Trump administration is in full force, contrary to “narratives” of complacency he said were common when Trump was sworn in for his second term. Wiener called on institutions to stand strong together, rather than conceding to the Trump administration’s demands. “Don’t bend the knee,” he said.
Wiener also called for “broad-based realignment” of the Democratic Party to not give right-wing leaders the chance to reclaim offices every two or four years. “It’s not enough to just get them out of office,” Wiener said.
As he left the stage to loud applause, one person in the crowd turned to another and said she couldn’t wait until Wiener runs for Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s seat when she retires from the House.
Still in California, Howard Blume, Summer Lin, Faith E. Pinho, Terry Castleman and Jeanette Marantos (LOS ANGELES TIMES) report:
Sam Phillips decided it was not too soon to set an example for her 15-month-old son, who rolled alongside her in a stroller.
“It’s really important to both stand up for his future and to also show him that in our family, we stand up to bullies,” said Phillips, who attended an anti-Trump rally Saturday with her husband in downtown Los Angeles, a gathering that also was strongly critical of Elon Musk — the billionaire advisor that President Trump tasked with slashing government spending.
The crowd easily numbered in the tens of thousands, starting with an afternoon kickoff in Pershing Square, followed by a march to City Hall and a sunset rally there that filled the street and adjacent Grand Park.
The demonstration was peaceful, colorful and creative, but there also was a palpable and diverse sense of outrage as participants cataloged a wide range of the Trump administration’s actions, including government downsizing, attacks on the rights of immigrants and transgender people, and tariffs that are roiling economies across the globe.
Ernesto Centeno Araujo (VENTURA COUNTY STAR) reports on another California protest:
All four corners of the intersection of Lynn Road and Hillcrest Drive in Thousand Oaks were packed to the brim with protesters holding signs and chanting as part of the Hands Off! National Day of Action Saturday.
"I honestly got emotional," said Bryan Stern, 40, from Thousand Oaks. The turnout was more than Stern expected and seeing and hearing the way his city turned out to protest recent actions taken by the Trump administration made him proud, he said. Stern attended the rally along with his girlfriend, Risa Middleton, 44, and her parents.
While the protest fell under the Hands Off! umbrella of demonstrations around the U.S. Saturday, the event was put together by local organizations Indivisible Simi Valley, Indivisible Conejo and Women United for Change, said Leanna Brand of Indivisible Simi Valley.
[. . .]
"I'm appalled by what they are trying to do to our democracy," said Lisa Richardson, 69, of Thousand Oaks, referencing President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.
Colorado's capital is Denver and Lindsey Toomer (COLORADO NEWSLINE) reports:
About 8,000 people rallied and marched at the Colorado Capitol in Denver for one of the many volunteer-organized Hands Off! protests against the Trump administration that took place around the country Saturday.
Several speakers including union workers, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, Democratic state Sen. Jessie Danielson and Colorado state director of GreenLatinos Ean Tafoya among other activists and concerned citizens addressed the crowd before protesters embarked on a 2-mile march through downtown Denver. Attendees held a variety of homemade as well as branded Hands Off! signs highlighting Medicaid, Social Security, fair elections, LGBTQ+ rights, public lands, veterans services, and other public services seen to be at risk under President Donald Trump.
Weiser, a Democrat who is running for governor in 2026, told the crowd that the Trump administration “didn’t get the memo that immigrants make America great,” which is why he joined a lawsuit challenging Trump’s “unimaginable step of thinking a Sharpie could overrule the Constitution” when he issued an executive order to end birthright citizenship.
“In America, when we stand together, when we stand on our principles, we will always prevail,” Weiser said. “We cannot be silenced.”
Staying with Colorado, AP notes, "Protesters also demonstrated in Arvada, Boulder, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, and Loveland. "
They protested in Salem, Oregon. Isabel Funk (SALEM STATESMAN JOURNAL) reports:
People held signs with slogans like 'Hands off our democracy,' '“'Humpty Trumpty had a great fall,' and 'Are we great yet? I’m just embarrassed.'
Others brought instruments and waved American, Ukrainian and Pride flags. A youth group offered “free hotdogs against fascism.”
[. . .]
Clyde Clevenger, 75, said he has attended every protest in Salem this year.
Clevenger is a Vietnam War veteran, but he said veterans’ rights are only one reason he’s been protesting.
“I’m also a father and I have four daughters, and I hate to see what’s happening for my daughters and my grandchildren,” he said.
They turned out in New York City. John Dias and Zinnia Maldonado (CBS NEW YORK) report:
A massive turnout shut down part of Midtown Manhattan.
The demonstrations come after two days of huge losses on Wall Street followed President Trump's announcement of steep tariffs, which also sparked fears of a global trade war and recession.
[. . .]
Kicking off at Bryant Park, thousands of demonstrators gathered along Fifth Avenue with signs in hand, marching to Madison Square Park.
Many of those who spoke to CBS News New York said the turnout was bigger than anybody expected, and they are all marching for different reasons, from government downsizing to economic inequality to threats to human rights.
"I'm actually representing the United Federation of Teachers, and we are very upset about the cuts to the Board of Education," protester Stephanie Kim said.
"Women's rights, at the moment. I'm pregnant," another protester said. "In case anything happens to me, I want to make sure that I'm able to have the right care."
"Losing our money, all our 401ks for retired people. We don't work anymore. You just don't get that back," protester Elaine DeAngelis said.
Last Tuesday, the state of Wisconsin sent a message of "We will not be bought" to Chump and Musk. Today, they continued their fight to protect our country. THE WISCONSIN EXAMINER reports:
Thousands of Wisconsinites joined rallies in Madison, Milwaukee and Green Bay Saturday, taking part in a national day of action with simultaneous events in more than 1,200 cities across all 50 states, according to the organizers of the “Hands Off!” protests of President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the Trump administration’s deep cuts to federal funding for health care, science, the Social Security administration, education and other public goods. Indivisible, one of more than 150 participating civil rights, labor, LGBTQ and other groups, put out a statement saying the rallies were an effort “to let Trump and Musk know they can’t intimidate us into submission.”
In Madison a massive crowd filled the lawns, sidewalks and streets on the State Street corner of the Wisconsin State Capitol, then marched the one-mile stretch to Library Mall on the University of Wisconsin campus. Organizers estimated more than 10,000 people participated.
Madison residents Jason and Aubrey, who declined to give their last names, said they were looking for a community with like-minded people. “We can be angry but it’s also fun to be out with people and it’s important to have joy in your life,” Aubrey said. She said she is concerned with rising income inequality and billionaires having control over social media and society.
“I’m scared for democracy and for the people I love who are going to be targeted by [Trump’s] immigration policies, his hatred of LGBTQ+ people. I felt kind of powerless and I think just being out here protesting, being in a really welcoming community — it’s what I can do right now,” Jason said.
BUSINESS INSIDERS' Alice Tecotzky , Lakshmi Varanasi , and Lloyd Lee report on protests around the country and this is from the section on Michigan:
On Saturday, I attended the Hands Off! rally in Novi, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit where 55% of the vote went to Kamala Harris during the election. Thousands of people showed up.
The crowd was emotionally charged and united by the spirit of collective action. Many attendees said they were first-time protesters. The Tesla Takedown protests I attended last weekend seemed somber by comparison. Protesters here got loud.
"Call me Old Lady Army Fighting for Democracy," one 66-year-old woman, who didn't want to give her real name, told me. She held up a sign she had made. It was a charcoal drawing of the Statue of Liberty, whose hands covered her eyes in shame.
"I just copied this off of Facebook," she said. But to her it symbolized that "everything that our country stands for is being destroyed, and the world is looking at us."
Chicago was out in full force. Evelyn Holmes and Tre Ward (ABC 7) notes:
Organizers said tens of thousands of people marched through the Loop after the Daley Plaza rally.
"There are so many changes happening, and I think it's really important that she see that we're trying to stand up and stop what's going on," said protestor Anika Carlson, who came with her young daughter. "I'm really worried about kids' access to education going forward."
The demonstrations across the Chicago area were aimed at protesting the Trump administration policies which have caused the firing of thousands of federal workers, sparked deportation raids along with funding cuts to education.
"I teach at a school that's, like, 99% Black, that is 100% low income, and my students are directly being threatened by the Trump administration," CPS middle school teacher Kobi Guillory said. "I have students who are immigrants."
Many also worry about changes Trump and Republicans want to make to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
"I feel like it's an invasion," protestor Roberta Caruso said. "I feel like all my rights have been stripped away from everything that I've worked for all my life... I feel like I'm just getting ready to retire, and now I have to worry about my social security, somethings I never thought I'd have to worry about in my lifetime."
People who rallied, Saturday, included civil rights organizations, labor unions, LBGTQ+ advocates, veterans and elections activists.
"This administration is using trans people as a cudgel, and let me tell you it is pathetic," said Precious Brady-Davis, Metropolitan Water Reclamation Chicago Commissioner.
Noel Brennan, Marissa Sulek and Sara Tenenbaum (CBS NEWS CHICAGO) add, "The crowd couldn't fit into Daley Plaza, so hundreds had to stand in the middle of neighboring streets, as they protested President Trump and billionaire White House senior adviser Elon Musk" and they quote Maryanne Bowman declaring, "I am concerned about people being kidnapped off the streets and shipped to hellhole prisons. I am concerned about our economy tanking. I am concerned about the fact that we have a president who doesn't care about people."
Boston, the original US seat of resistance to a corrupt government, saw thousands turn out. WBUS reports:
Protesters started streaming into the Common and crowding around the Parkman Bandstand well before the gathering was slated to begin at 11 a.m. Many carried signs and flags representing the U.S., Palestinians and Pride. Attendees then marched to City Hall Plaza where a slate of speakers addressed the crowd, including Sen. Ed Markey.
"We will stand with Rümeysa Öztürk," Markey said, referring to the Tufts doctoral student arrested in Somerville last month by immigration agents and currently being held in a detention center in Louisiana. "Freedom of speech is a right, not a crime. Release Rümeysa now, Donald Trump! Release her!"
Among the protesters was 35-year-old Jeremy Zolan from Connecticut. He said he used to study geology and but for financial reasons has turned to working in a factory as a machinist. He said he recently had an opportunity to return to his field and academia, but the position disappeared amid the slashes to federal funding.
"We're willing to just make our position as a research and innovation superpower plummet just so a few people can strengthen their grip of control — it is absolutely disgusting to me as a scientist," Zolan said. "Seeing all these people losing their jobs in scientific research, all these projects shut down. It is going to directly harm this country and another country is going to take our place."
Per BOSTON.COM, Senator Markey didn't just march and speak, he actually was one of the physical leaders of the march and John Tlumacki's photograph in BOSTON.COM's photos essay backs that up. WBZ NEWS quotes the senator stating that the Hands Off action was about "making sure our voices are heard, that we are the national leader in 2025 the same way that we were in 1775, when King George tried to take away our rights." WGBH quotes Claire Carl Miller stating, "We are here to protect our immigrant neighbors, to protect transgender family kin, and to really say we believe in true democracy. It's incredibly important to send a message to everyone across this nation that we can come together, united, and be inspired, hold joy for a vision of true democracy."
They turned out around the country in big locals and small, cities and towns to tell Convicted Felon Donald Chump Hands Off!
That's Tyler, Texas. And they turned out for this action despite rain. It rained Thursday and Friday and that was supposed to be the end of it. However, it rained and sprinkled throughout Saturday -- it was still sprinkling at 3:00 pm when the above action took place. But they turned out.
While Americans were turning out in cities across the country, Convicted Felon Donald Chump was hiding out in Florida. He didn't wait around until Friday to go on 'vacation,' he started it Thursday. That allowed him to avoid the return of four American troops who died overseas. As Ruth noted Friday:
There was a time in Donald Chump's first term as president that I gave him the benefit of the doubt regarding his alleged hatred of U.S. troops. He quickly made clear that the rumors were indeed true. We saw that further in his 2024 campaign and, of course, we have seen it since he was sworn in. SignalGate, for example, put our military pilots at risk as they set out on a mission he ordered and then Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, DNI Director Tulsi Gabbard, and the rest do a non-secure discussion of the mission before it starts and as it is being carried out. To this day, he has refused to fire any of these people despite the fact that their actions could have resulted in the deaths of the military pilots. That, by the way, is a point Senator Tammy Duckworth has made strongly and repeatedly.
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