Apple News Today
On the ground in El Salvador with the men deported there by the U.S.
Wed, 26 Mar 2025
Earlier this month Venezuelans were designated as gang members by the U.S. with little to no due process, deported to El Salvador, and imprisoned. Photojournalist Philip Holsinger with Time, who was on the tarmac when they arrived, describes what he observed. Government officials faced hard questions in a congressional hearing about how a journalist ended up in a private conversation about war plans on a commercial messaging app. The Washington Post has the details. The Trump administration’s efforts to detain and deport students living legally in the U.S. who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses have ramped up in recent days. Politico has the story. Plus, Trump signed an executive order seeking to overhaul voter registration, an Oscar-winning film director was released from Israeli custody in the West Bank, and how Baltimore residents are still feeling the effects of the Key Bridge collapse. Today’s episode was hosted by Shumita Basu.
Chapter 1: What are the key stories covered in this episode?
Good morning. It's Wednesday, March 26th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, the fight over non-citizens' right to free speech, what one photojournalist saw when deported Venezuelans landed in El Salvador, and President Trump signs an executive order to overhaul voting.
Chapter 2: What happened in the Signal chat involving U.S. officials?
But first, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz says he takes full responsibility for a group chat on the messaging service Signal that included several cabinet members, the vice president and a journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. The text thread included details about upcoming U.S. military strikes in Yemen.
In an appearance on Fox, Waltz said he built the group, called it embarrassing and pledged to get to the bottom of it. Officials who were on that chat deny any classified information was exchanged. Goldberg, in his initial report and again on Tuesday, said the chat did include classified material.
Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, two other people in the chat, Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, and John Ratcliffe, the CIA director, were questioned about the incident by Democratic lawmakers in a previously scheduled Senate Intelligence Committee hearing yesterday. Both Gabbard and Ratcliffe mostly deflected questions about the group chat during that hearing.
When Ratcliffe was asked if he agreed the incident was a big mistake, he responded no. In one exchange, Independent Senator Angus King from Maine asked Gabbard about the specifics of the operation and why they weren't classified.
You've testified that nothing in that chain was classified. Wouldn't that be classified? What if that had been made public that morning before the attack took place?
Senator, I can attest to the fact that there were no classified or intelligence equities that were included in that chat group at any time.
So the attack sequencing and timing and weapons and targets you don't consider should have been classified?
I defer to the Secretary of Defense and the National Security Council on that question.
Ratcliffe said during the hearing it's Hegseth's responsibility as the authority on materials classification to determine what was appropriate to share. Republicans on the committee mostly didn't ask about the episode during the hearing, but two said that they would do so in a classified setting later.
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Chapter 3: What is the controversy surrounding the deportation of students?
And Politico reports that at least two more students, both legal residents, are on the run from immigration officials as they pursue legal action to prevent their deportations. Yunso Chung has a green card, and Mamadou Tal is in the U.S. on a student visa.
The Justice Department says the State Department canceled Tal's visa for his involvement in pro-Palestinian demonstrations six months ago, which they say created a, quote, hostile environment for Jewish students. And the Trump administration argues Chung, who was arrested in connection with a protest at Barnard College, is a threat to the administration's foreign policy agenda.
Both Chung and Tal say their First Amendment free speech rights are being violated. A judge Tuesday evening ruled Chung can't be detained as she fights her deportation. Tal spoke to The Intercept on Sunday, saying that just a few days before federal agents showed up looking for him, he and two U.S.
citizens filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration challenging the executive orders to combat anti-Semitism on college campuses and expel foreign nationals who the administration says pose security threats.
It's very interesting to me that on a random Friday for an event that took place six months ago, all the federal agencies were planning to come after me. And now that I've filed, my visa has been revoked. So for me, it clearly looks like retaliation and retribution for filing.
The administration's efforts to revoke students' legal status has sparked fundamental questions more broadly about the right to free speech and whether it's reserved for citizens only.
Recently, NPR's Michelle Martin spoke to Troy Edgar, the deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, about the arrest of Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the U.S. who was detained earlier this month for his role coordinating anti-war protests. Martin asked what exactly Khalil did that warranted his arrest and qualified as terrorist activity.
Edgar, as you'll hear, struggled to answer her questions clearly.
And what did he engage in that constitutes terrorist activity? I mean, Michelle, having watched it on TV, it's pretty clear. No, it isn't. Well, explain it to those of us who have not, or perhaps others have not. What exactly did he do?
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Chapter 4: How are universities responding to the Trump administration's pressure?
As soon as I saw the faces of the Venezuelans, there was something different. The main difference is that I was used to seeing the murderers coming off the planes. I was used to seeing the MS-13 guys, and they don't cry. They're hardened. I was used to that. So these Venezuelan guys, even in defiance, you could see some fear.
When somebody's angry, but they're thinking, maybe I'm about to get eaten alive. The way they were crying struck me because it was unlike anything else I had seen with gang members in detention.
They were transported by bus to SICAT, short for the Center for Terrorist Confinement. It's a remote facility at the foot of a volcano. El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, has praised its harsh conditions, and Trump has promised to pay Bukele $6 million to hold these men there for one year.
People detained at SICAT cannot make phone calls, have visitors, participate in recreational activities, or receive education, and they're never allowed to go outside.
It's almost like a spaceship. It's just concrete and steel, totally new. You have no freedoms. You can't even speak. A prisoner is not even allowed to address a guard. You have to have some very specific request. I've never been in a prison like it.
Holsinger told us at some point it struck him many of these people don't even know where they've landed.
And maybe some of these guys realize, maybe whispering, maybe they know they're in Salvador, but they're in a foreign country. And even if they don't know it, they can't call anybody. And nobody's going to come and ask about them.
As I mentioned earlier in the week, 238 men in total were sent to El Salvador by President Trump and his administration. They've accused more than half of being part of the Tren de Aragua gang, a group that Trump has called a foreign terrorist group and wartime enemy. The administration has provided little evidence to support those claims. Before we let you go, a few other stories we're following.
President Trump Tuesday signed an executive order that could have a big impact on elections. The order, which will likely be challenged in court, would require proof of citizenship to register to vote on federal forms. Most people register to vote through their state. It would also bar absentee and mail-in ballots from being counted if they're received after Election Day. The order claims the U.S.
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