Judge Allows Trump to Fire All USAID Staff

THE NEWS

A federal judge has lifted a temporary injunction, allowing the Trump administration to remove nearly the entire workforce of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Judge Carl Nichols ruled that the unions representing USAID staff did not prove “irreparable harm,” clearing a path for President Donald Trump’s plan to dramatically reduce and reorganize the foreign aid agency.

TIMELINE

January 20, 2025: Foreign Aid Freeze

• President Trump signs an executive order imposing a 90-day freeze on all U.S. foreign aid funding, causing widespread disruption to USAID programs worldwide.

January 24, 2025: Stop-Work Orders

• Secretary of State Marco Rubio issues a directive to freeze USAID operations, halting new projects and stopping work on most existing programs.

January 27, 2025: Leadership Purge

• At least 56 top USAID officials are placed on 90-day paid administrative leave, cut off from email access, and their office photos removed.

February 3, 2025: Rubio Takes Charge

• Secretary Rubio announces he will serve as Acting USAID Administrator, signaling plans to potentially merge parts of USAID into the State Department.

February 11-14, 2025: Legal Challenges

• Aid organizations sue the administration over the funding freeze. On February 13, U.S. District Judge Amir Ali orders a temporary thaw, directing the administration to lift the blanket hold on USAID funding.

February 18-20, 2025: Compliance Issues

• Judge Ali reiterates his order after the administration fails to fully comply, demanding resumption of payments on frozen aid contracts and grants.

February 21, 2025: Staff Cuts Approved

• Judge Carl Nichols lifts his earlier restraining order, allowing the administration to proceed with putting all but about 600 of USAID's 10,000 staff on leave and requiring those abroad to return home within 30 days.

REACTIONS

Judge Carl Nichols: “Plaintiffs have presented no irreparable harm they or their members are imminently likely to suffer from the hypothetical future dissolution of USAID.”

“And it is not clear why the speed of proceedings in the relevant agencies would be insufficient to address the only actions that have already happened and are presently ripe for review: administrative leave placements, expedited evacuations, and other changes to working conditions of the sort those bodies routinely confront.”

Tom Yazdgerdi, the president of the American Foreign Service Association, called the judge’s ruling “a setback in our fight to protect our members from efforts that threaten to dismantle USAID, but it does not change the importance of their mission — advancing U.S. interests and delivering life-saving assistance worldwide.”

El Slavador's President Nayib Bukele earlier this month wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "Most governments don't want USAID funds flowing into their countries because they understand where much of that money actually ends up. While marketed as support for development, democracy, and human rights, the majority of these funds are funneled into opposition groups, NGOs with political agendas, and destabilizing movements.

"At best, maybe 10 precent of the money reaches real projects that help people in need (there are such cases), but the rest is used to fuel dissent, finance protests, and undermine administrations that refuse to align with the globalist agenda. Cutting this so-called aid isn't just beneficial for the United States; it's also a big win for the rest of the world."

WHAT'S NEXT

The Trump administration will continue to degrade USAID and merge it with the State Department, with the fates of USAID workers stationed overseas still up the air as they try to return stateside.