The Trump administration has issued an official notice placing all, but designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and/or specially designated programmes, on leave.
The Donald Trump administration, on Sunday, said that it was eliminating 2,000 posts at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and placing all but a fraction of others worldwide on leave. The latest move came after a federal judge allowed the administration to move forward with pulling thousands of USAID staffers off the job in the United States and around the world.
Carl Nichols, the US District Judge, rejected pleas to keep his temporary stay on the government’s plan in a lawsuit from employees. The notice was sent to all USAID employees. In the notice, the administration informed, “As of 11:59 pm EST 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 programmes, will be placed on administrative leave globally.”
It must be noted that the move escalates the administration’s assault on the agency that has closed its headquarters in Washington and shut down thousands of US-sponsored aid and development programmes worldwide following an effort to freeze foreign assistance. President Donald Trump and his chief cost-cutter, Elon Musk, contended the aid and development work as wasteful and furthered a liberal agenda.
The notices came on top of hundreds of USAID contractors receiving no-name form letters of termination over the weekend, according to copies that were viewed by the news agency AP. 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.
In a second lawsuit, a different judge tied to the dismantling of USAID temporarily blocked the freeze on foreign assistance and said this past week that the administration had kept withholding the aid and must temporarily restore the funding to programs worldwide.
(With AP Inputs)
