Late Friday, a federal judge temporarily halted the Trump administration’s intention to put thousands of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) employees on leave at midnight.
Unions representing government employees filed a lawsuit to halt the agency’s activities and resume the flow of foreign aid that had been suspended by President Trump, who accused the agency of fraud and corruption to explain its impending closure.
Judge Carl Nichols, appointed by Trump during his first term, prevented the government from placing approximately 2,200 USAID personnel on administrative leave or relocating them from their host nations before the end of the day on February 14.
Nichols also specified that any USAID employees presently on administrative leave, which the government estimates to be around 500 persons, must be restored until that date and given “complete access” to email, payment, and security notification systems.
The judge has scheduled a preliminary injunction hearing on February 12.
In court filings, the American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees referred to the Trump administration’s effort as a “ongoing, illegal scheme to gut” the agency, claiming that USAID employees would face imminent harm if the court did not immediately intervene to stop the plan.
“This is not something the president can unilaterally do,” Karla Gilbride, an attorney for the unions, told the judge during a hearing Friday.
Trump and his allies, namely Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), launched an all-out assault on the agency over the weekend, shutting down internal systems and email, demolishing office buildings, and recalling thousands of employees to the United States in recent days.
Brett Shumate, a government lawyer, described the decision to place staff on vacation as a “personnel action” for which workers might seek legal redress through several avenues.
Some 600 “essential personnel” were scheduled to continue working full-time, but approximately 2,700 people would have been placed on administrative leave if the judge had not halted the decree.
“That is exactly what is occurring here. “It’s just a big number,” he remarked, referring to the thousands of employees who would be affected and adding that they would still be paid.
In his order, the judge refuted this notion.
“The government argued at the TRO hearing that placing employees on paid administrative leave is a garden-variety personnel action unworthy of court intervention,” Nichols pointed out. “But administrative leave in Syria is not the same as administrative leave in Bethesda: simply being paid cannot change that fact.”
Several anonymous USAID employees filed declarations with the court, revealing their perilous conditions.
One woman, identified as Beth Doe, stated that she is 32 weeks pregnant and that the closure may affect her birth plans.
Another lady, Carol Doe, claimed she is about to lose tens of thousands of dollars and that the “constant barrage” of late-night emails, many of which are nasty, has caused her “tremendous emotional distress.”
And a man identified as Eric Doe claimed that if the proposal is implemented, he and his children will be homeless.
“This experience has been degrading, dehumanizing, and traumatizing for my family,” Eric Doe, a 15-year foreign service officer, wrote in his statement.
By immediately terminating USAID’s operations and withdrawing people out, there is also a risk of “severe harm and humanitarian carnage,” Gilbride said, saying that there is “no need” for the closure to occur so quickly.
While politicians and legal experts have argued that the Trump administration’s actions are illegal and unconstitutional, because USAID is an autonomous agency established by Congress, Trump has relied on claims of fraud to justify the makeover.
“When you look at USAID, the entire thing is a lie. Very little was put to good use. “Every line I look at is either corrupt or ridiculous,” Trump told reporters on Friday.
Musk has been slamming USAID on his social media platform X all week, calling the organization a “ball of worms” that is “beyond repair.”
USAID, founded in 1961, has given humanitarian, global health, and development aid around the world. According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the agency employed over 10,000 workers, with two-thirds of them working outside of the United States.
The central question in the legal case is whether the executive branch can unilaterally abolish an independent agency established and funded by the legislative branch.
While detractors argue that because USAID was founded by executive order, it may be undone by another, the CRS reported on Monday that Congress passed a bill codifying the agency in 1998, and that Trump’s actions raise “numerous questions” for the legislative branch.
“These include whether the President is authorized to abolish the agency, whether the President can restructure the agency, and what happens to USAID’s resources if such actions are implemented,” according to the examination.
Republican politicians have mostly remained mute or followed suit. The leaders of the Republican-led Senate and House Foreign Affairs committees have both expressed their support for the president’s intentions to reform and restructure the agency.
Democratic lawmakers, on the other hand, have promised to battle in Congress, the courts, and the media.
“You may be cheering this act by Trump and Musk, or maybe you’re just afraid of Trump and Musk, but let’s be clear: they’re bypassing you as well, and the American people will hold you accountable,” Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.) told his Republican colleagues at a rally outside the Capitol on Wednesday.
“This doesn’t stop until the public and members of Congress on both sides of the aisle stand up and remind Trump that we are co-equal branches of government, and we need to restore checks and balances in this country.”
