United States: Staff at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) had to initiate forced leaves for all personnel except a diminutive group of workers worldwide beginning Friday as employee associations filed cases in federal jurisdictions to prevent the Trump administration’s rapid dismantlement of both the USAID itself and all its worldwide programs.
More about the news
The lawsuit submitted by workers to stop the agency shutdown received a hearing scheduled for Friday afternoon.
The USAID name was concealed with duct tape across front signs at its Washington headquarters during this interval.
Government personnel sought Trump administration support for allowing additional USAID workers to stay on the job for a period of time because they were needed to handle the evacuation process of thousands of agency personnel and their dependents abroad, AP News reported.
The administration instructed USAID staff on Thursday about the limited number of employees who can bypass global furloughs and leave procedures, which affects at least 8,000 direct hires and contractors.
We regretted his first term in 2016 and his insurrection when he lost in 2020. Now we have another four years with spray Tanned Orange Donny. Ugh…
— Gary Michael Shephard (@RealGaryShep) February 7, 2025
Forced leaves start for thousands at USAID under a Trump plan to gut the foreign aid agency https://t.co/gHNZqJ2qMx pic.twitter.com/Tz1D0bnHE1
Embassy diplomats seek permission to give their staff additional time following the forced school withdrawals of dependent personnel.
USAID workers serving as current staff and senior former officials of the agency learned about the forthcoming administration staffing reduction through an agency meeting on Thursday.
The employees shared their information anonymously because the Trump administration ordered USAID staff members to avoid talking with outside sources.
The current staff, including direct hires and contractors, as well as 5,000 unknown employees working in foreign locations, will operate the few life-saving programs that the administration plans to sustain temporarily.
The Trump administration failed to reveal whether these workforce cuts would remain permanent or serve as temporary measures so the same staff could potentially resume work after evaluating aid programs.
What more are the officials stating?
The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, stated that while on a trip to the Dominican Republic, the government would provide support to the staffers who get home within thirty days “if they so desired” and would listen to those with special conditions, AP News reported.
“We’re not trying to be disruptive to people’s personal lives,” he stated on Thursday. And, “We’re not being punitive here,” he added.
Furthermore, he also insisted that the moves were the only probable way to help support staffers who were working “to sneak through payments and push through payments despite the stop order” on foreign assistance.