Labor organizations have sued the federal government on behalf of foreign service workers over the gutting of USAID.
The action comes after employees and contractors were placed on leave and cut off from system access, funding paused and stop work orders issued over the last two weeks as President Trump seeks to align government agencies with his policy priorities through the Department of Government Efficiency.
“These actions have generated a global humanitarian crisis by abruptly halting the crucial work of USAID employees, grantees, and contractors. They have cost thousands of American jobs. And they have imperiled U.S. national security interests,” states the lawsuit, filed by the Public Citizen Litigation Group and Democracy Forward on behalf of the American Foreign Service Association and American Federation of Government Employees against President Trump, USAID, the State Department, Department of Treasury, and agency leaders.
The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order directing the government to reverse actions and stop steps further dissolving the agency, alleging that none of the actions have received the necessary congressional authorization.
The lawsuit accuses Elon Musk and members of DOGE of gutting the remnants of the agency and demanding access to classified agency systems without the proper security clearances, as employees lost access to computer accounts.
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USAID’s website has been replaced with a lone message that states that direct hire personnel will be placed on administrative leave globally by the end of the day Friday, with exceptions for designated essential personnel, and that the agency is preparing a plan for the return of within 30 days of those determined otherwise.
Thursday evening, USAID’s website was updated to state that “personnel are not required to accept Agency-sponsored travel or to return to the United States within any specific deadline” but warns that after 30 days agency funded and arranged travel may not be available without a granted exception.
Civil servants are sharing a sense of confusion. Some foreign service officers are having to ask for couches to stay on in the United States, according to a senior civil servant, while there are concerns for foreign service nationals safety who worked in home countries who have seized on attempts to vilify the agency. A staff member placed on leave estimated less than 200 people remain at the agency, with lawyers among those placed on leave.
The lawsuit states that humanitarian consequences from the actions at USAID have “already been catastrophic.”
“Clinics stopped distributing HIV medication. Staff who operate humanitarian operations at refugee camps in Syria were told to stop work, leaving thousands of people vulnerable to instability and violence at the hands of ISIS. Soup kitchens that feed nearly a million people in famine-stricken Khartoum were shut down. Toddlers in Zambia were deprived of rehydration salts to treat life-threatening diarrhea. Doctors at U.S.-funded medical facilities in Sudan that treat severely malnourished children were forced to choose whether to obey Defendants’ orders and “immediately stop their operations or to let up to 100 babies and toddlers die,” the lawsuit states.
“The goal of our endeavor has always been to identify programs that work and continue them and to identify programs that are not aligned with our national interest and identify those and address them,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who assumed acting leadership of the agency, said earlier in the day Thursday prior to the lawsuit's filing.
However, there is still confusion over the process to work through a waiver after receiving a stop work order, according to a senior civil servant who also pointed to concerns over food distribution that helped prevent stunting in children and programs that counter Chinese influence, designed to help countries have options beyond investments from the PRC.
“The men and women of USAID deserve a government that values and understands their contributions, not one that leaves them high and dry and unable to pursue their important work after a hostile takeover,” said Everett Kelley, AFGE National President. “We will stand up for our members and all USAID workers who deliver aid across the globe and contribute to a safer, healthier world for all Americans.”
