Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump’s Plan to Place 2,200 USAID Workers on Leave

A U.S. federal judge has temporarily halted former President Donald Trump’s plan to place 2,200 employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on paid leave, just hours before the measure was set to take effect.

Judge Carl Nichols issued a limited temporary restraining order in response to a last-minute lawsuit filed by two unions seeking to prevent the agency’s downsizing. The order, which remains in effect until February 14 at midnight, delays Trump’s broader effort to scale down USAID, an organization he has criticized as an unnecessary use of taxpayer funds. His
administration had planned to place nearly all of USAID’s 10,000 employees on leave, sparing only 611 workers.

Before the ruling, around 500 employees had already been placed on administrative leave, with another 2,200 scheduled to join them by midnight on Friday (05:00 GMT). The unions behind the lawsuit argued that the move violated the U.S. Constitution and would cause significant harm to the affected workers.

Judge Nichols sided with the unions, stating that the workers would suffer “irreparable harm” if the court did not intervene, while the government faced “zero harm” from the delay. The temporary block provides a brief reprieve for USAID employees, but the long-term fate of the agency remains uncertain.