A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from placing thousands of employees at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on paid leave Friday, halting plans to cut its workforce down to just a few hundred.
The temporary restraining order imposed by Washington, DC, US District Judge Carl Nichols will keep any mass personnel moves from taking place at USAID until at least Feb. 15.
Nichols ordered the Trump administration to reinstate all USAID employees placed on administrative leave; barred any additional agency employees from being placed on leave; and ordered that no USAID employees in overseas posts be asked to return to the US on an “expedited timeline.”
The Trump administration had recalled virtually all foreign-based USAID employees earlier this week, giving them 30 days to accept government-paid transportation home unless they obtain an approved exception.
Nichols also ruled that all USAID employees “shall be given complete access to email, payment, and security notification systems.”
The judge’s “limited” restraining order was first reported by Politico. Nichols, a Trump appointee, released his full order late Friday night.
He issued a preliminary injunction hearing date for Feb. 12.
White House officials had reportedly moved to gut the agency’s more than 10,000-person workforce down to just 600 staff members focused on critical humanitarian or public health initiatives.
Around 500 employees at USAID had already been placed on leave and are likely to be recalled to their jobs, Nichols also noted following Friday’s hearing.
Federal unions had sued President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others in the administration on Thursday for moving to dismantle the agency and reorganize it.
Attorneys for the American Foreign Service Association and American Federation of Government Employees argued the layoffs could imperil workers stationed abroad as well as nongovernmental groups that rely on USAID funding.
In particular, the lawyers blamed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief Elon Musk, now a White House-appointed “special government employee,” for bragging about “feeding USAID into the woodchipper.”
Musk reportedly entered USAID headquarters over the weekend and improperly accessed classified materials with DOGE engineers, prompting a clash with security officials who were later let go.
Brett Shumate, a Justice Department lawyer arguing on behalf of the administration, countered that the president was authorized to put employees on leave after having identified “corruption and fraud” taking place in the agency’s programs.
“This is about how employees are harmed in their capacity as employees — in the employee/employer relationship — and it seems to me that, for reasons I will discuss in this order … the plaintiffs have established at least that there is irreparable harm as it relates to that relationship,” Nichols informed both parties at the end of the hearing, according to ABC News.
During his first week in office, Trump ordered a government-wide funding freeze to review billions of dollars in grants, loans and other financial assistance, leading to thousands of USAID contractors being furloughed.
President John F. Kennedy created USAID via executive order in 1961, which Trump supporters have claimed is sufficient grounds for the president to revoke its funding and close down the agency without a vote from Congress.
“Not a single one of defendants’ actions to dismantle USAID were taken pursuant to congressional authorization,” the fed unions’ attorneys wrote in their complaint filed in DC federal court.
The president posted on his Truth Social account Friday moring of the agency: “The CORRUPTION IS AT LEVELS RARELY SEEN BEFORE. CLOSE IT DOWN!”
“USAID IS DRIVING THE RADICAL LEFT CRAZY, AND THERE IS NOTHING THEY CAN DO ABOUT IT BECAUSE THE WAY IN WHICH THE MONEY HAS BEEN SPENT, SO MUCH OF IT FRAUDULENTLY, IS TOTALLY UNEXPLAINABLE,” Trump added.
Critics have replied that Congress has authorized spending for USAID for decades — and has the final say over whether the agency can be shuttered and reorganized under the auspices of the State Department.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio assumed the role of acting administrator Monday, telling reporters the “level of insubordination makes it impossible to conduct a sort of mature and serious review that I think foreign aid writ large should have.”
“This is not about ending the programs that USAID does, per se,” Rubio added while on an official trip to El Salvador. “There are things that it does that are good, and there are things that it does that we have strong questions about.”
