Trump admin confirms all non-'essential' USAID personnel on leave, 1,600 positions being terminated

Democratic politicians and beneficiaries of taxpayer-funded U.S. Agency for International Development handouts — both foreign and domestic — have raged against the possibility that the pre-eminent international humanitarian and development arm of the federal government might undergo reform or possibly even be closed.

Their protest was evidently in vain.

The Trump administration has placed all personnel at the U.S. Agency for International Development "with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and/or specially designated programs" on administrative leave.

The action went into effect at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday.

According to a notice from the USAID Office of Inspector General, the administration is also eliminating 1,600 positions at the agency that are currently occupied.

The announcement comes on the heels of U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols' Friday decision to dissolve a temporary restraining order that protected 2,014 USAID employees from being placed on administrative leave. Those 2,014 employees would have been in addition to another 2,140 employees who were already on leave, reported the Courthouse News Service.

The union coalition of USAID employees that initially sued claimed that there would be "'catastrophic' 'humanitarian consequences' if USAID — either due to the funding freeze or a lack of staff — cannot continue to administer its standard foreign aid programs."

Nichols noted that the government "also identified plausible harms that could ensue if its actions with respect to USAID are not permitted to resume" and concluded that the plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate that "they or their members will suffer irreparable injury absent an injunction."

President Donald Trump noted in an executive order on his first day in office that the "foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values."

'You just gotta basically get rid of the whole thing.'

The president further indicated that moving forward, it would be the "policy of United States that no further United States foreign assistance shall be disbursed in a manner that is not fully aligned with the foreign policy of the President of the United States."

The U.S. Department of Government Efficiency took a close look at USAID and exposed its apparent use of taxpayer funds to support anti-American and leftist causes.

Blaze News previously reported, for example, that USAID blew $45 million on DEI scholarships in Burma; $2 million on sex-change activism in Guatemala; $37.9 million to study HIV among prostitutes, their johns, and transvestites in South Africa; $520 million for consultant-driven climate alarmist investments in Africa; $20 million on a "Sesame Street" show in Iraq; $1 million on a Hamas-linked charity in Gaza; and $4.67 million on EcoHealth Alliance, the scandal-plagued group whose subcontractor executed gain-of-function experiments on coronaviruses at the Wuhan lab.

Elon Musk, the head of the DOGE, suggested earlier this month, "As we dug into USAID, it became apparent that what we have here is not an apple with a worm in it, but we have, actually, just a ball of worms."

"And when there is no apple, you just gotta basically get rid of the whole thing," added Musk.

While dead weight was put on leave, agency personnel deemed "essential" were notified by 5 p.m. on Feb. 23 that they were expected to continue working.

Workers overseas who are getting the boot will apparently have access to a USAID-funded return travel program and will enjoy continued access to agency systems and diplomatic resources until their return home.

The American Foreign Service Association, the union that filed the lawsuit challenging terminations at USAID, said in a statement, "AFSA is deeply disappointed by the administration's hurried and callous decision to keep our dedicated public servants in limbo."

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