Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump's Purge Of USAID Workers

Judge and USAID — A worker removes the U.S. Agency for International Development sign on their headquarters Friday in Washington, DC. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

A federal judge late Friday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's plan to gut the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) by halting plans to put more than 2,000 employees on leave and reinstating 500 employees already removed.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, in the order issued shortly before the midnight deadline also paused a directive that the agency's Foreign Service officers have 30 days to return to the United States, according to NPR.

Unions representing workers at the agency sued the Trump administration on Thursday in an eleventh-hour attempt to stop the purge, arguing the action was unconstitutional and would spark a "global humanitarian crisis."

In his order, Nichols said that the unions had "adequately demonstrated" that their members faced "irreparable injury" from being placed on leave, NPR reported.

He also pointed to their claims that many USAID workers who work in dangerous parts of the globe would no longer have access to email and internal warnings systems if placed on leave, the report said.

"No future lawsuit could undo the physical harm that might result if USAID employees are not informed of imminent security threats occurring in the countries to which they have relocated in the course of their service to the United States," Nichols wrote.

"Administrative leave in Syria is not the same as administrative leave in Bethesda: simply being paid cannot change that fact," he added.

USAID and a number of other federal agencies have come into the crosshairs of Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, who is heading up the Department of Government Efficiency, since the Jan. 20 inauguration.

On Friday morning, Trump without evidence, accused USAID of being corrupt.

"USAID IS DRIVING THE RADICAL LEFT CRAZY, AND THERE IS NOTHING THEY CAN DO ABOUT IT BECAUSE THE WAY IN WHICH THE MONEY HAS BEEN SPENT, SO MUCH OF IT FRAUDULENTLY, IS TOTALLY UNEXPLAINABLE," he said in an all-caps posting on Truth Social.

"THE CORRUPTION IS AT LEVELS RARELY SEEN BEFORE. CLOSE IT DOWN!" he said.

The order remains in effect until next Friday, and Nichols has scheduled a hearing on Wednesday, NPR reported.