Feb. 7 (UPI) — A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to immediately halt putting at least 2,200 employees at the U.S. Agency for International Development on administrative leave.
District Judge Carl Nichols made his decision before the agency planned to retain fewer than 300 people as essential personnel as of 11:59 p.m. ET Friday.
“They should not put those 2,200 people administrative on leave tonight,” Nichols, an appointee of President Donald Trump, said Friday afternoon in the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C.
Nichols said his order would not apply to another 500 direct employees at the agency who already have been placed on hold. The agency also has furloughed or laid off many of the contractors who make up a large portion of the USAID workforce.
In all, more than 10,000 people worked for the agency, including two-thirds outside the U.S.
Hours after he took office, Trump suspended all U.S. foreign assistance.
The agency is scheduled to spend about $58.4 billion on international assistance programs in the 2025 fiscal year, according to January 2025 projections from the Congressional Budget Office. The total 2025 federal budget is $7 trillion.
The signage at the US Agency for International Development in Washington was taped over.
USAID was established in in 1961 to provided humanitarian, global health and development assistance around the world.
Nichols described the order as “limited” as a way to halt the Trump administration’s “accelerated removal of people from their countries.”
Nichols said he plans to outline his ruling in a forthcoming written order.
The American Foreign Service Association and American Federation of Government Employee representing USAID employees filed the lawsuit.
“This is not something the president can unilaterally do,” Karla Gilbride, an attorney representing the unions, told the judge during the hearing Friday.
They are challenging whether the executive branch can shutter an independent agency established and funded by the legislative branch.
Congress codified the agency in 1998, according to an analysis from the CRS, which said 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,” the analysis states.
Democrats also are fighting the closure.
“You may be cheering this act by Trump and [Elon] Musk, or maybe you’re just afraid of Trump or 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., said to his Republican colleagues during a rally outside the Capitol on Wednesday.
Workers with Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency accessed personnel records and classified material.
On Sunday, he posted on X platform, which he owns: “USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die.”
Trump also has accused the agency of fraud and corruption. He has put Secretary of State Marco Rubio in charge of the agency.
The Department of Justice has agreed to temporarily limit DOGE’s access to the Treasury Department’s federal payment system. This was after a lawsuit Thursday by federal workers unions.