Trump and Musk take USAID closer to complete elimination
By Tenzin Chokyi
DHARAMSHALA 24 Feb: President Donald Trump’s administration on Sunday fired 1,600 staff in the US at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and placed all USAID direct hire personnel on administrative leave globally.
The development came following a federal court ruling that allowed the administration to pull thousands of USAID staffers from jobs in the US and abroad on Friday.
According to the official USAID website, the ruling has granted exceptions to “designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions”, and “core leadership and/or specially designated programs”.
The agency describes the move as a “reduction in force that will affect approximately 1,600 USAID personnel with duty stations in the United States”, while a version of the notice sent to staffers earlier noted 2,000 USAID personnel, according to a report by The Hindu.
As instructed by the agency, hundreds of USAID contractors reportedly received anonymous form letters of termination over the weekend.
According to copies viewed by AP, letters obtained lacked specific names or job details which could complicate efforts for affected workers to claim unemployment benefits.
Meanwhile, all USAID workers and families in foreign countries are put on a planned 30-day deadline to return home if they want their travel paid for by the government, according to a report by The Hindu
The reduction in workforce is seen as “the latest and the biggest step” in a month-long administration assault on the agency taken by US President Donal Trump and cost-cutting ally and head of DOGE, Elon Musk to achieve their goal of “gutting the six-decade-old aid” and development agency in a broader campaign to slash the size of the federal government.
The duo has repeatedly criticised foreign aid and development work as “wasteful and furthering a liberal agenda” which has been practically implemented through the closure of the USAID headquarters based in the US after Trump’s Global freeze on all USAID for 90 days, an executive order he signed on his first day back in office.
During a conservative convention on Saturday, Trump said, “We’ve also effectively ended the left-wing scam known as USAID”. He added that the Customs and Border Patrol, a US immigration-enforcement agency is ready to move into the USAID building in Washington DC.
According to a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters, the USAID received less than $100 million from the total exemption of $5.3 billion, mostly for security and counter-narcotics programs with limited humanitarian relief. The number stands very small compared to the $40 billion USAID Fund before the freeze.
Lawsuits by government workers’ unions and USAID contractors claim the administration lacks the constitutional authority to eliminate an independent agency or congressionally funded program without the approval of the US Congress, the AP reported.
Former USAID officials and humanitarian workers have decried Trump’s move warning that the demise of the aid agency will harm millions of vulnerable people worldwide and weaken US soft power.
“Eliminating the US unique response capacity of crisis experts who help contain disease outbreaks, stabilise displaced populations – a shortsighted, high risk and frankly, stupid act,” Marcia Wong, a former deputy assistant administrator for USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, said on social media platform X.
Meanwhile, following the shutdown of USAID headquarters on 3 February, US Senator Chris Murphy, a member of the US Foreign Relations Committee called it a “constitutional crisis” arguing that the move which was reportedly influenced by Musk reflects an attempt by Musk and the billionaire elite to take control of US foreign policy for self-interest.
