(DCNF)—A federal judge Friday rejected a request from unions representing U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees to block the Trump administration from dismantling the agency.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols rejected the unions’ request for a preliminary injunction, ruling that they failed to prove irreparable harm and that their claims should be resolved through existing administrative review processes. The American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees filed the lawsuit on Feb. 6, arguing that President Donald Trump’s executive orders were unlawful attempts to gut the agency through Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency without congressional approval.
“The record does not reflect that such a direction is imminent,” Nichols wrote in his 26-page opinion, emphasizing that USAID workers remained on payroll and that overseas staff retained access to security resources. “Instead, USAID has expressly informed employees that they ‘retain the option to retain at their posts,’ ‘even while placed on administrative leave and not working.’”
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The legal spat stems from the president’s day-one executive order, which mandated a 90-day pause on foreign aid disbursements, with exceptions for Ukraine and Israel. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was later appointed as acting USAID administrator, and the agency’s headquarters was later shuttered, with Reuters reporting the agency would reduce its global workforce from over 10,000 to 294.
The lawsuit accuses the Trump administration of violating the Foreign Affairs Appropriations Act and 2024 Appropriations Act, which the plaintiffs argue prohibits executive actions that would reorganize agencies like USAID without congressional approval. They also said the administration failed to follow required procedures before halting USAID operations and placing thousands of employees on administrative leave.
“Not a single one of the defendants’ actions to dismantle USAID were taken pursuant to congressional authorization,” the lawsuit reads. “And pursuant to federal statute, Congress is the only entity that may lawfully dismantle the agency.”
More than 1,000 USAID employees had already been locked out of their systems, according to the court documents, and countless humanitarian aid initiatives — including Ecuadorian drag shows, Peruvian transgender comic books and Arabic-language “Sesame Street” productions — were thrown into disarray. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce, however, said the freeze was necessary to “ensure [foreign aid programs] are efficient and consistent with U.S. foreign policy under the America First agenda.”
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The court had previously granted a temporary restraining order blocking additional administrative leave placements, but Friday’s ruling dissolved that restriction. Nichols determined that employment-related grievances should be addressed through administrative channels rather than emergency judicial intervention.
The decision clears the way for the Trump administration’s staffing purges to continue, though the lawsuit remains ongoing. The unions have not yet indicated whether they will appeal.
The State Department did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
