By Brendan Pierson
(Reuters) – The largest U.S. government workers’ union and an association of foreign service workers sued the Trump administration on Thursday in an effort to reverse its aggressive dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The lawsuit, filed in Washington, D.C. federal court by the American Federation of Government Employees and the American Foreign Service Association, seeks an order blocking what it says are “unconstitutional and illegal actions” that have created a “global humanitarian crisis.”
Those actions include President Donald Trump’s order on January 20, the day he was inaugurated, pausing all U.S. foreign aid. That was followed by orders from the State Department halting USAID projects around the world, agency computer systems going offline and staff abruptly laid off or placed on leave.
The agency’s website now states that as of midnight on Friday “all USAID direct hire personnel will be placed on administrative leave globally, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs.”
The Trump administration plans to keep fewer than 300 employees, out of more than 10,000, sources told Reuters earlier on Thursday.
(Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Sandra Maler and Cynthia Osterman)
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