The Trump administration said Sunday that it was placing all but a fraction of staffers at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on leave worldwide and eliminating at least 1,600 U.S.-based jobs.
It was the latest and one of the biggest steps yet toward what President Donald Trump and cost-cutting ally Elon Musk say is their goal of gutting the six-decade-old aid and development agency in a broader campaign to slash the size of the federal government.
The move comes after a federal judge on Friday allowed the administration to move forward with its plan to pull thousands of USAID workers off the job in the United States and around the world. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, rejected pleas in a lawsuit from employees to keep temporarily blocking the government’s plan.
“As of 11:59 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 23, 2025, all USAID direct hire personnel, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and/or specially designated programs, will be placed on administrative leave globally,” according to the notices sent to USAID workers that were viewed by The Associated Press.
At the same time, the agency said in the notices to staffers that it was beginning a reduction in force that would eliminate 2,000 U.S.-based jobs. A version of the notice posted later on USAID’s website put the number of positions to be eliminated lower, at 1,600.
The administration gave no explanation for the discrepancy. USAID and the State Department did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
The cuts mean many of the Washington-based staffers who are being placed on leave would soon have their positions eliminated.
The Trump appointee running USAID, deputy administrator Pete Marocco, has indicated he plans to keep about 600 mostly U.S.-based staffers on the job in the meantime, in part to arrange travel for USAID employees and families abroad.
The move escalates a month-long push to dismantle the agency, which has included closing its headquarters in Washington and shutting down thousands of aid and development programs worldwide following a freeze on all foreign assistance. A judge later temporarily blocked the funding freeze. Trump and Musk contend that USAID’s work is wasteful and furthers a liberal agenda.
As the U.S. abandons much of its global ‘soft power’ influence by trying to shutter agencies like USAID, countries like Canada are adapting how they provide foreign aid. The National asks foreign aid expert Kate Higgins and global strategy analyst Noam Unger to explain how aid cuts can destabilize the world and make humanitarian disasters even worse.
Lawsuits by government workers’ unions, USAID contractors and others say the administration lacks the constitutional authority to eliminate an independent agency or congressionally funded programs without lawmakers’ approval.
The Trump administration’s efforts upend decades of U.S. policy that aid and development work overseas serves national security by stabilizing regions and economies and building alliances.
The notices of firings and leaves come on top of hundreds of USAID contractors receiving no-name form letters of termination in the past week, according to copies that AP viewed.
Donald Trump’s administration has put in place a 90-day freeze on most American foreign aid, which is managed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). That plan is affecting countless organizations, including some that are located in Quebec and the rest of Canada.
The blanket nature of the notification letters to USAID contractors, excluding the names or positions of those receiving them, could make it difficult for the dismissed workers to get unemployment benefits, workers noted.
A different judge in a second lawsuit tied to USAID said this past week that the administration had kept withholding foreign aid despite his order temporarily blocking the funding freeze and must restore the funding to programs worldwide.
The separate ruling from Nichols on Friday also cleared the way for the administration to start the clock on a planned 30-day deadline for USAID staffers and their families to return home if they want their travel paid for by the government.
Nichols, who was nominated by Trump in 2018 to serve in the District of Columbia, said he was satisfied by administration assurances that workers abroad would be allowed to stay in their jobs while on leave beyond the 30 days even if they chose to remain overseas.
Foreign staffers fear that continued problems with funding flows and the gutting of most of the headquarters staff will make a safe and orderly return difficult, especially those with children in school, houses to sell and ill family members.
USAID’s notice on Sunday said it was “committed to keeping its overseas personnel safe” and pledged not to cut off staffers abroad from agency systems and other support.