Biggest day of demonstrations yet by an opposition movement trying to regain momentum \u2013 key US politics stories from 5 April <\/p>\n
Crowds of people angry about the way Donald Trump<\/a> is running the country marched and rallied in scores of American cities on Saturday in the biggest day of demonstrations yet by an opposition movement trying to regain its momentum after the shock of the US president\u2019s first weeks in office.
The so-called \u201cHands Off!\u201d demonstrations were held in more than 1,200 locations in all 50 states by more than 150 groups, including civil rights organizations, labor unions, LBGTQ+ advocates, veterans and elections activists.
Demonstrators voiced anger over the administration\u2019s moves to fire thousands of federal workers, close social security administration field offices, effectively shutter entire agencies, deport immigrants, scale back protections for transgender people and cut funding for health programs.
Here are the key stories at a glance.
People across the US took to the streets on Saturday to oppose what left-leaning organizations called Trump<\/a>\u2019s \u201cauthoritarian overreach and billionaire-backed agenda\u201d.
Organizers estimated <\/strong>that more than 500,000 people demonstrated in Washington DC, Florida and elsewhere.
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Demonstrators estimated to be in the tens of thousands gathered in Washington on Saturday in a display of mass dissent against Trump\u2019s policies that organizers hoped would snowball into a rolling cycle of protests.
Anger with Trump and his billionaire lieutenant, the SpaceX and Tesla leader Elon Musk<\/a>, was expressed in a sea of placards and banners on the Washington mall. Multiple messages denounced the two men for shuttering government agencies, cutting jobs and services and \u2013 in often graphic terms \u2013 for threatening the survival of US democracy.
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The Democratic senator Cory Booker took a version of his record-breaking Senate floor speech on the road Saturday to a town hall meeting in a New Jersey gymnasium, calling on people to find out what they can do to push back against Donald Trump\u2019s agenda.
Booker took questions at suburban New Jersey\u2019s Bergen Community College the same day that more than 1,200 \u2018Hands Off\u2019 demonstrations took place around the country. The town hall event was punctuated both by celebratory shouts of \u201cCory, Cory\u201d as well as at least a half-dozen interruptions by protesters.
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Barack Obama has called on US citizens, colleges and law firms to resist Trump\u2019s political agenda \u2013 and warned Americans to prepare to \u201cpossibly sacrifice\u201d in support of democratic values.
\u201cIt has been easy during most of our lifetimes to say you are a progressive or say you are for social justice or say you\u2019re for free speech and not have to pay a price for it,\u201d Obama said during a speech<\/a> at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, on Thursday.
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Washington is revoking all visas for South Sudanese passport holders and blocking new arrivals, secretary of state Marco Rubio<\/a> said on Saturday, complaining the African nation is not accepting its nationals expelled from the US.
The state department \u201cis taking actions to revoke all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders and prevent further issuance to prevent entry\u201d, Rubio said in a statement.
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Mahmoud Khalil<\/a>, the Columbia University<\/a> student activist who led campus pro-Palestinian rallies and is now resisting the Trump administration\u2019s deportation efforts, has accused the university of laying \u201cthe groundwork for my abduction\u201d and called on the student body to continue demonstrations and protests.
Khalil, a green-card holder who is in custody in Louisiana as his case moves through the courts, was detained on 8 March. The Trump administration<\/a> is seeking to deport him under a provision in federal immigration law that permits the state department to deport non-citizens considered to be a threat to US foreign policy.
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Trump\u2019s presidential administration<\/a> has acknowledged and apologized after it says it accidentally informed some Ukrainian refugees fleeing their country\u2019s invasion by Russia that they needed to leave the US because their legal status was being revoked.
About 240,000 Ukrainians have been settled in the US as part of the Uniting for Ukraine<\/a> \u2013 or U4U \u2013 program launched during Joe Biden\u2019s presidency. But according to CBS News<\/a>, some resettled Ukrainians received emails this week telling them that the US Department of Homeland Security would be terminating their legal protections.
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Ted Cruz<\/a>, the US senator from Texas, has warned that his fellow Republicans risk a \u201cbloodbath\u201d in the 2026 midterm elections if Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cliberation day\u201d tariffs cause a recession.
Cruz also warned that the president\u2019s tariffs<\/a>, if they stay in place for long and are met by global retaliation on American goods, could trigger a full-blown trade war that \u201cwould destroy jobs here at home, and do real damage to the US economy\u201d.
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Another round of torrential rain and flash flooding on Saturday hit parts of the US south and midwest<\/strong> already heavily waterlogged by days of severe storms that also spawned deadly tornadoes. Forecasters warned that rivers in some places would continue to rise for days<\/a>.
New York state officials have told the Trump administration that they will not comply with its demands<\/a> to end diversity,<\/strong> equity and inclusion practices in public schools, despite the administration\u2019s threats to terminate federal education funding.
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will pause shipments of its UK-made cars to the US for a month<\/strong> as it considers how to mitigate<\/a> the cost of Trump\u2019s tariffs. The 25% tariff imposed by the US on imported cars and light trucks took effect on 3 April.
Catching up? Here\u2019s what happened on 4 April 2025<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n