UPDATED: Feb. 8, 11 a.m. ET
A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from placing 2,200 employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on administrative leave, siding with unions representing the employees.
Judge Carl Nichols of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, a 2019 Trump appointee, issued a restraining order pausing the imminent administrative leave of 2,200 U.S.A.I.D. employees and a plan to withdraw nearly all of the agency’s overseas workers within 30 days, The New York Times reported Friday.
In the order, Nichols also reinstated 500 USAID employees already on administrative eave and paused White House orders requiring USAID personnel stationed abroad to return to the U.S. immediately.
The temporary restraining order would remain in place under Feb. 14.
The lawsuit was filed Thursday by Democracy Forward and Public Citizen Litigation Group on behalf of the American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees.
Original story posted Feb 3, 5 p.m. ET
Democrats, public health leaders decry Trump administration's takeover of humanitarian aid agency USAID
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Monday that he has been named acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, multiple media outlets reported, which signals the de-facto takeover of the humanitarian agency by the State Department.
USAID oversees humanitarian, development and security programs in some 120 countries. Established by then-President John F. Kennedy in 1961 as an independent agency, it provides humanitarian assistance during global conflicts and other emergencies. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, USAID "provides assistance to strategically important countries and countries in conflict; leads U.S. efforts to alleviate poverty, disease, and humanitarian need; and assists U.S. commercial interests by supporting developing countries' economic growth."
The agency also works to further U.S. interests abroad. Global health experts say that USAID has practiced a form of soft power around the world.
In 2023, USAID provided $42.45 billion in foreign aid, according to the U.S. government’s foreign assistance dashboard. Healthcare commitments totaled more than $7 billion of the agency's spending figure.
The agency, which has functioned largely independently for the past 60 years, is now at the center of a political firestorm after a week of drastic changes.
Over the weekend, personnel from the Elon Musk-run Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, attempted to access USAID systems, CBS News and other media outlets reported. Thousands of USAID employees have been laid off and programs shut down around the world in the two weeks since Trump became president and imposed a sweeping freeze on foreign assistance, the Associated Press reported.
The Trump administration over the weekend placed two top security chiefs at USAID on leave after they refused to turn over classified material in restricted areas to Musk’s government-inspection teams, The AP reported, citing a current and a former U.S. official.
In an X Spaces conversation Monday, Musk said President Donald Trump agreed the USAID needs to be “shut down," according to media reports.
RELATED: Trump, Musk aim to 'shut down' humanitarian aid agency USAID: reports
"The impending shutdown of USAID is unconstitutional and reveals complete ignorance or indifference to how vital its work -- in global health, conflicts, disasters and beyond -- is to Americans and humanity," Atul Gawande, M.D., who served as assistant administrator for global health at USAID during the Biden administration, posted on X on Monday.
"It's unlawful, it's a destruction, and it is frightening," Gawande said during an interview on ABC News Monday. "This has vital implications for American security and for humanity. You have to understand USAID, the bulk of its work is reaching out as a cornerstone of national security with assistance to countries around ambitious goals all over the world. I led global health for the last three years, and we led work that is stopping bird flu around the world. You know, we have monitoring in 49 countries around a flu that has already killed an American on home soil, and that work has been shut down. All health activity has been shut down."
Gawande noted, "This is work that 20 million HIV patients, including 6.5 million children around the world, need access to their medications. Now that shut off; it's an enormous harm."
USAID’s work in the pharma vein centers on providing medicines and vaccines to address tuberculosis, HIV, polio, malaria, Ebola and other health threats, Fierce Pharma reported. The agency works with governments around the world to ensure sustainable access to “safe, effective, affordable, quality insured medical products,” according to an archived version of the organization’s website, and it operates several programs that run the gambit of drug development and health supply chains.
In a letter to Congress, obtained by the Associated Press, Rubio said he had designated Trump ally Peter Marocco as acting head of USAID "to begin the process of engaging in a review and potential reorganization of USAID's activities to maximize efficiency and align operations with the national interest."
AP Congressional reporter Farnoush Amiri posted a copy of the letter on X.
"In consultation with Congress, USAID may move, reorganize, and integrate certain missions, bureaus and offices into the Department of State, and the remainder of the Agency may be abolished consistent with applicable law," the letter from Rubio to members of Congress stated.
Democrats have delivered a strong rebuke against the Trump administration’s attempt to gut the agency, calling it illegal and promising to fight the move in court.
House and Senate Democrats, including Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), gathered outside USAID headquarters on Monday for a rally and news briefing.
"Make no mistake, this effort by Elon Musk and so-called DOGE to shut down the United States Agency for International Development is an absolute gift to our adversaries, to Russia, to China, to Iran and others, because USAID is an essential instrument of U.S. foreign policy and U.S. national security policy," Van Hollen said.
Van Hollen called the move to shut down USAID "a corrupt abuse of power." It's not only a gift to our adversaries, but trying to shut down the Agency for International Development by executive order is plain illegal," the Maryland senator said.