Judge temporarily blocks 2,200 USAID workers from being placed on leave by midnight

A Trump-appointed judge said at an emergency hearing on Friday that he would put a temporary block on the administration’s plan to put 2,200 U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees on paid leave by midnight, Fox News has learned. 

He also told a government lawyer that he’s not sure whether he would include the 500 employees already placed on leave in his order. 

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols sided with two federal employee associations – the American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees – who filed lawsuits over the order on Thursday. 

Government officials “failed to acknowledge the catastrophic consequences of their actions, both as they pertain to American workers, the lives of millions around the world, and to US national interests,” the lawsuit says. 

Nichols said that the plaintiffs had “established irreparable harm,” adding that “there’s zero harm to the government to pausing this for some short period of time.” 

Nichols added that it would be a “very limited” temporary restraining order.

“CLOSE IT DOWN!” President Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier Friday of the U.S. agency that oversees international development. 

An official with USAID told reporters on Friday that the agency had “ceased to exist,” with the majority of employees gone and funding stopped. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that the most crucial life-saving programs administrated by USAID overseas were given waivers to continue. 

USAID was founded by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 and had more than 10,000 employees and a budget of about $40 billion a year. 

On Friday, the USAID website said that at midnight “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. Essential personnel expected to continue working will be informed by Agency leadership by Thursday, February 6, at 3:00pm (EST).” 

Trump and Elon Musk, who runs the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, have said they might move USAID’s surviving life-saving programs under the State Department. 

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Rubio said the U.S. government will continue providing foreign aid, “but it is going to be foreign aid that makes sense and is aligned with our national interest.”

Democratic critics have said the move is illegal and needs Congressional approval. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.