Judge temporarily blocks Trump from putting USAID workers on leave

A judge has temporarily stopped the Trump administration from sending thousands of aid workers home from their jobs at USAID, the U.S. government’s main foreign aid agency. The judge also blocked an order that would have forced USAID workers in foreign countries to return to America within just 30 days.

Judge Carl Nichols, who Trump himself appointed, agreed with two groups representing government workers that these orders would put aid workers abroad at unnecessary risk. However, the judge didn’t stop the administration’s freeze on USAID’s funding, which has already halted the agency’s work helping people around the world. A fuller review of the case will come later.

“CLOSE IT DOWN,” Trump posted on social media about USAID before the judge’s ruling.

According to media reports, the battle over USAID’s future turned visible at the agency’s Washington headquarters, where workers on cranes removed the agency’s name from the building’s stone front. They covered signs with duct tape and took down USAID flags. Someone placed flowers outside the door as if mourning the agency’s fate.

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The shutdown is already affecting millions of people worldwide. Officials say important aid isn’t reaching those who need it. For example, $450 million worth of American-grown food that could feed 36 million people isn’t being delivered. In Sudan’s Darfur region, 1.6 million people displaced by war might lose their water supply because there’s no money to fuel the desert water pumps.

The Trump administration and Elon Musk, who runs a new department focused on cutting government spending, have made USAID their main target in what’s becoming the biggest challenge yet to federal government programs. They’ve stopped almost all funding, halted programs worldwide, and even locked workers out of their email accounts. Democratic lawmakers say the administration has also taken away USAID’s computer servers.

Trump and Republican members of Congress have talked about moving some aid programs to the State Department, but with much less funding. Within the State Department itself, employees are worried about losing their jobs after the administration offered money to federal workers who agree to resign, though a judge has temporarily blocked that offer.

The fight over USAID’s future isn’t over. Employee groups argue that Trump can’t legally shut down this 60-year-old agency without Congress’s approval, and Democratic lawmakers agree. For now, the judge’s order protects 2,200 workers from being put on leave, but many others connected to the agency have already been laid off or furloughed.