Recent actions by appointees of the Trump administration at the United States Agency for International Development (U.S.A.I.D.) have resulted in the termination of hundreds of employees responsible for managing urgent humanitarian responses globally, as reported by two U.S. officials and four recent agency employees.
The dismissals have raised concerns regarding Secretary of State Marco Rubio's commitment to enabling U.S.A.I.D. employees to provide lifesaving humanitarian assistance, a promise he made last month amid a near-total freeze on foreign aid from the U.S. government.
Since the beginning of the administration, thousands of U.S.A.I.D. employees have been either fired or placed on paid leave. A task force of engineers associated with Elon Musk, who is advising President Trump, has reportedly shut down numerous technical systems within the agency, restricting employee access to their email accounts. Musk has previously made unfounded claims on social media labeling U.S.A.I.D. a “criminal organization.”
The latest round of firings occurred on a Friday night, with hundreds of employees in the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance receiving generic termination emails that lacked specific job titles or recipient names. These dismissals have been confirmed by The New York Times.
In addition to the firings in the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, 36 employees were let go from the Office of Transition Initiatives, which focuses on political transitions and democratic initiatives in partner countries.
Approximately 400 employees were dismissed from humanitarian assistance roles, including about 200 contractors from the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance and another 200 from the Support Relief Group, which specializes in rapid responses to crises. This has left only about a dozen individuals in the Support Relief Group.
Many of the contractors affected had extensive experience, with some having worked for U.S.A.I.D. for up to 25 years, often in conflict zones such as Ukraine, Syria, and Afghanistan. One employee reported being scheduled to return home from a U.S. diplomatic mission following the termination notice.
The current operations at U.S.A.I.D. are overseen by Pete Marocco, a State Department official with a controversial history in previous administrations. Rubio has announced a 90-day halt on all foreign aid for a review process, but many officials and contractors anticipate that most aid will be permanently cut and further job losses will occur, with U.S.A.I.D. potentially being integrated into the State Department.
Despite U.S.A.I.D. being established by Congress and receiving appropriated funds for foreign aid this year, there has been little opposition from Republican lawmakers regarding the aid freeze and job cuts. Foreign aid constitutes less than 1 percent of the federal budget.
Rubio indicated that employees could apply for waivers to continue essential humanitarian assistance during the freeze; however, few programs have received such waivers. Even those that did have been unable to operate due to issues with the U.S.A.I.D. payment system, known as Phoenix, which has become nonfunctional.
Requests for comments from the State Department and U.S.A.I.D. press officer Laken Rapier went unanswered.