Donald Trump’s administration is reportedly planning to keep just more than 600 essential workers at USAid, according to a notice sent to employees of the US foreign aid agency on Thursday night.
The notice, shared with Reuters by an administration official on Friday, reportedly stated that 611 essential workers would be retained at USAid, which had more than 10,000 employees globally.
Earlier, it was reported that the administration intended to retain fewer than 300 staff members at USAid.
The USAid staff reductions are set to take effect at midnight on Friday, as indicated on the agency’s website. But, a lawsuit filed on Thursday by the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) seeks to prevent the administration from dismantling USAid, which was established as an independent agency by a law passed by Congress in 1998.
The unions claim that these actions are “unconstitutional and illegal” and have created a “global humanitarian crisis”. The lawsuit contends that the dissolution of USAid exceeds Trumps’s authority as president under the US constitution.
The plaintiffs are seeking both a temporary and a permanent court order to restore the agency’s funding, reopen its offices, and prevent further actions to dissolve the agency.
According to a statement on the agency’s website, beginning on Friday 7 February at 11.59pm ET, “all USAID direct hire personnel will be placed on administrative leave globally, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs”.
Essential personnel who are expected to continue working were to be notified by Thursday, it added.
For USAid personnel posted outside the US, it stated that the agency, in coordination with missions and the department of state, was “preparing a plan, in accordance with all applicable requirements and laws, under which the agency would arrange and pay for return travel to the US within 30 days”.
“The agency will consider case-by-case exceptions and return travel extensions based on personal or family hardship, mobility or safety concerns, or other reasons,” it added.
On Friday morning, Trump continued to blast the agency on social media, stating: “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 added: “THE CORRUPTION IS AT LEVELS RARELY SEEN BEFORE. CLOSE IT DOWN!”
As of 2023, the Congressional Research Service reports that USAid, which distributes humanitarian aid globally, employs more than 10,000 people worldwide. Approximately two-thirds of its workforce is stationed abroad.
That year, the agency managed more than $40bn in funding, delivering aid to 130 countries. Additionally, in 2024, USAid provided 42% of all humanitarian aid tracked by the United Nations.
Trump’s extensive cutbacks to the agency have upended and disrupted the global aid system. The cuts are one of several initiatives part of Trump’s “America first” policy his administration is implementing – spearheaded by the billionaire Elon Musk and his so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) – which aims to significantly reduce the number of federal employees and cut federal spending.
Earlier in February, the Trump administration removed two top security officials at USAid after they tried to stop members of Musk’s Doge team from accessing sensitive data and restricted areas of the building, sources told the Guardian.
On Monday, Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, declared that he would be the acting administrator of the agency after employees found themselves locked out of the agency’s headquarters in Washington DC. Meanwhile, the White House confirmed plans to merge USAid into the state department.
