NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-16-2025 12PM EDT

Episode Date: March 16, 2025

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Public media counts on your support to ensure that the reporting and programs you depend on thrive. Make a recurring donation today to get special access to more than 20 NPR podcasts. Perks like sponsor-free listening, bonus episodes, early access, and more. So start supporting what you love today at plus.npr.org. Live from NPR News in Washingtonhington i'm norah rom president trump deported about two hundred fifty migrants this weekend after invoking the alien enemies act of seventeen ninety eight a rarely used law that gives wartime deportation powers to the president a federal judge blocked trump's use of this law

despite this a plane landed in El Salvador filled with deported migrants. NPR's Lou Garrett reports. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the U.S. deported hundreds of people who he says are members of the MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gangs on Sunday. Rubio posted on X that El Salvadorian president Nayib Bukele will take these migrants to quote, very good jails at a fair price. The president of El Salvador then posted a video of the deportees in handcuffs and said the deportees would be held behind bars for one year. Bukele also responded to reports of a federal judge blocking the deportations with a post

saying quote, oopsies, too late. On Sunday, Trump's press secretary, Caroline Levitt, defended the president's use of the 18th century law, not invoked since World War II. With the migrants now in El Salvador, it's unclear what jurisdiction U.S. courts will have. Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington. The death toll continues to rise from widespread storms that devastated the Midwest and Southern U.S. this weekend.

Officials now say at least 34 people died. Two of those deaths were in Alabama, Troy Public Radio's Kyle Gassett reports. The storms arrived after dark Saturday, making it difficult to see the damage, but on Sunday morning over 10,000 Alabamians woke up with no electricity due to toppled trees and other storm damage across the state. At one point in the evening, officials at the National Weather Service offices in Birmingham had to take shelter, and directed followers on X to follow updates from the Atlanta Bureau. In Troy, Alabama, a tornado damaged the roof of a recreation center where some 200 people

had taken shelter. Governor Kay Ivey says damage was sustained in 52 of Alabama's 67 counties as first responders work to assist in recovery efforts. For NPR News, I'm Kyle Gassett in Montgomery, Alabama. The storm system also spread wildfires in Oklahoma yesterday. More than 100 burned across the state, scorching at least 170,000 acres. Officials say hundreds of homes were destroyed, including a ranch house belonging to Governor Kevin Stitt.

Protests continue this weekend in Tel Aviv demanding the Israeli government negotiate a hostage deal and ceasefire with Hamas. Protester Martin Goldberg says the Israeli people must keep the pressure on. Anger, because without anger here nothing will change until people come out of their houses and demonstrate and stop the country, literally paralyze the country, that nothing will work. Israel wants to extend the temporary first phase of the ceasefire, a proposal backed by the U.S. This is NPR News.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is heading to Paris and London to shore up alliances as he faces President Trump's attacks on Canada's sovereignty. At his swearing-in ceremony Friday, Carney said that Canada will never, ever, in any way shape or form, be part of the United States. Greenlander is turned out by the hundreds this weekend to protest President Trump's desire to take over their island. Terry Schultz reports. Carrying signs reading statements like, Yankees go home and no means no stop threatening us,

Greenlanders marched to the U.S. diplomatic office in New York. Last week's parliamentary election saw the opposition win the most votes in the 31-seat legislature, but all the main parties are unified in two goals. They want to seek full independence from Denmark, and they reject any incursion from the Trump administration. Party leaders released a joint statement saying they cannot accept the repeated statements on annexation and control of Greenland and that they find this conduct unacceptable to friends and allies in a defense alliance, referring to Denmark's membership in NATO.

For NPR News, I'm Terry Schultz. A SpaceX capsule arrived at the International Space Station early this morning, delivering a replacement crew for Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams, who spent nine months in space on what was supposed to be a week-long mission. They had arrived on a Boeing Starliner that eventually returned to Earth empty because of problems. The new crew will spend a few days being trained, and Wilmore and Williams are expected to return home this week. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News in Washington. This message comes from Wondery. Kiki Palmer is that girl, Pandora Ram, NPR News in Washington.