WASHINGTON — A court order halting Trump administration plans to pull all but a fraction of USAID staffers off the job worldwide will stay in place for at least another week.
U.S.
A court order halting Trump administration plans to pull all but a fraction of USAID staffers off the job worldwide will stay in place for at least another week.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols ordered the extension after a nearly three-hour hearing Thursday, much of it focused on how employees were affected by abrupt orders by the Trump administration and ally Elon Musk to put thousands of USAID workers on leave and freeze foreign aid funding.
The judge said he plans to issue a written ruling in the coming days on whether the pause will continue.
Nichols, a Trump appointee, closely questioned the government about keeping employees on leave safe in high-risk overseas areas. When a Justice Department attorney could not provide detailed plans, the judge asked him to file court documents after the hearing.
USAID staffers who until recently were posted in Congo had filed affidavits for the lawsuit describing the aid agency all but abandoning them when looting and political violence exploded in Congo’s capital last month, leaving them to evacuate with their families.
The funding freeze and purge of top USAID officials meant agency staffers are now stranded in Washington, without homes or agency funding, and facing the loss of their jobs, staffers said in the affidavits.
