Trump fires remaining USAID staff

The administration of the US President Donald Trump on Friday said it would cut nearly all remaining jobs at the US Agency for International Development, USAID, and shut the agency.

According to humanitarian aid experts, the new cuts to an agency whose humanitarian aid has gained Washington influence and saved lives across the globe for more than 60 years is worrisome.

It was gathered that scores of USAID staff and Foreign Service officers assigned to the agency learned in an internal memo that all positions not required by law would be eliminated in July and September.

The memo was said to be sent to staff by Jeremy Lewin, the agency's acting deputy administrator and a member of billionaire Elon Musk’s job-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE.

DOGE reportedly oversaw a first round of cuts to USAID last month.

The State Department notification to Congress of the job cuts said USAID missions worldwide would be closed and the agency's remaining functions would be folded into State.

Cuts at the agency is said to have thrown humanitarian efforts around the world into turmoil.

The latest notice came on the day that a powerful earthquake hit Thailand and Myanmar, toppling buildings and killing hundreds of people.

USAID has historically played a major role in coordinating disaster relief efforts.

A U.S. appeals court on Friday ruled that Musk and DOGE can keep making cuts to USAID while they appeal a lower court order that had barred them from doing so.

A US Representative Gregory Meeks, top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement that closing USAID was illegal and aimed at withdrawing the US from its global leadership role with as much cruelty and disruption as possible.

At the time of filing this report, the exact number of personnel being fired was not immediately available.

According to Stand Up for Aid, a grassroots advocacy group, as of March 21, there were 869 US direct hire personnel on active duty and working, while 3,848 others were on paid administrative leave.