Judge pauses Trump plan to send thousands of staff at agency on leave

A federal court is issuing a “very limited” temporary order to halt President Donald Trump’s plan to gut the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The judge issued a restraining order that would block 2,200 employees from being put on administrative leave as was scheduled by midnight Friday. USAID employs about 10,000 people, two-thirds of whom work overseas.

Attorneys for employees of the agency, which is the US government’s main overseas development organisation, filed an emergency petition aiming to halt the plan to place the vast majority of its workforce on leave.

Some 611 employees would have been kept working under the plan by Trump and billionaire Elon Musk.

Trump has singled out the agency as he is a long-term critic of overseas spending, arguing that USAID is not a valuable use of taxpayer money.

It is one of many federal agencies the Trump administration is targeting as it works to slash federal spending in the US.

Trump campaigned on overhauling the government and formed an advisory body named the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) – led by Musk – to slash the budget.

Friday’s order by US District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington DC came after a lawsuit was filed by American Foreign Service Association and American Federation of Government Employees – two unions representing employees of the agency.

Judge Nichols, who was nominated by Trump during his first term, said the written order would be issued later.

The lawsuit argued that the president was violating the US Constitution and federal law by attempting to dismantle the agency. “Not a single one of defendants’ actions to dismantle USAID were taken pursuant to congressional authorization,” it said.

“And pursuant to federal statute, Congress is the only entity that may lawfully dismantle the agency.”

On Thursday, the Trump administration sent notice to employees at USAID that it planned to keep on 611 essential employees.

A justice department official, Brett Shumate, told the judge that Trump “has decided there is corruption and fraud at USAID”.

Also on Friday, officials removed and covered USAID signs at the organisation’s headquarters in Washington DC.

Some left signs and flowers near the covered logos – one with a RIP USAID gravestone. Its office in the US capital has been closed all week.

Hours after Trump took office on 20 January, he signed an executive order halting all foreign assistance until such funds were vetted and aligned with his “America First” policy.

That led to a stop work order at USAID, which has in turn upended the global aid system as hundreds of programmes have been frozen in countries around the world.

On Friday, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform: “USAID IS DRIVING THE RADICAL LEFT CRAZY.

“THE CORRUPTION IS AT LEVELS RARELY SEEN BEFORE. CLOSE IT DOWN!”

The US is by far the biggest single provider of humanitarian aid around the world. It has bases in more than 60 countries and works in dozens of others, with much of its work carried out by its contractors.

According to government data, the US spent $68bn (£55bn) on international aid in 2023.

That total is spread across several departments and agencies, but USAID’s budget constitutes more than half of it at around $40bn – that’s about 0.6% of total US annual government spending of $6.75tn.

Former USAID chiefs have criticised the reported cutback plan. One of them, Gayle Smith, stressed to the BBC that the US had always been the fastest to arrive during humanitarian crises around the world.

“When you pull all of that out, you send some very dangerous messages,” Smith said. “The US is signalling that we don’t frankly care whether people live or die and that we’re not a reliable partner.”