A US federal judge on Friday granted a temporary restraining order, halting the Trump administration’s attempt to sideline nearly 2,700 US Agency for International Development (USAID) employees by placing them on paid leave and recalling most of those stationed abroad. The ruling delivers a significant setback to the president’s push to curtail US foreign aid and align it with his “America First” agenda.
Friday’s decision comes a day after the American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees filed a federal lawsuit in the District of Columbia. They urged the court to strike down what they described as “a series of unconstitutional and illegal actions taken by President Donald Trump and his administration that have systematically dismantled” USAID without congressional approval. The case landed before Judge Carl J. Nichols, a Trump appointee from 2019, who granted the injunction, citing the “irreparable” harm employees would face if stripped of critical government support such as communications, payment, and security while operating in high-risk environments.
“Administrative leave in Syria is not the same as administrative leave in Bethesda: simply being paid cannot change that fact,” Judge Nichols wrote as he contrasted Bethesda, a quiet suburb of Washington, DC, to war-torn regions like Syria where local populations rely on US government support as a lifeline.
The temporary restraining order is set to remain in effect until February 14, delivering a major roadblock to the Trump administration’s plan to sideline thousands of USAID workers. The ruling prevents the government from placing employees on paid leave starting Saturday and immediately reinstates about 500 who had already been furloughed. Additionally, it prohibits the administration from pulling back USAID humanitarian workers stationed overseas, ensuring they can continue their critical missions. However, Nichols did not grant all the unions’ requests, refusing to mandate the reopening of USAID buildings or restore funding for agency grants and contracts.
Thursday’s lawsuit represents the first major legal showdown against Trump and his allies, spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk and his controversial US DOGE Service, or Department of Government Efficiency—as they push to overhaul foreign aid programs and dismantle USAID’s workforce.
Their campaign to reshape the federal government has already included sweeping orders to freeze key foreign aid initiatives and sideline the vast majority of USAID’s staff, whether through firings, furloughs, or forced leave, both in Washington and abroad.
Trump took to social media on Friday morning to claim, without providing evidence, that a significant portion of USAID’s funding had been misused through fraud. “THE CORRUPTION IS AT LEVELS RARELY SEEN BEFORE,” he shared to Truth Social. “CLOSE IT DOWN!”
The plaintiffs in Thursday’s filing warned that the rapid-fire decisions following Trump’s return to office had “generated a global humanitarian crisis by abruptly halting the crucial work of USAID employees, grantees, and contractors.” The fallout was visible outside USAID’s headquarters near the White House on Friday, where workers stripped the agency’s name from a building sign and lowered its flag.
Friday’s injunction now puts the brakes on a drastic move announced earlier this week on USAID’s website, which planned to place all global “direct hire” staff, primarily civil service and Foreign Service employees, on administrative leave at midnight Eastern time on Friday, except for a select few designated employees. The announcement is no longer available.
