Two labor groups representing US agency employees for international development (USAID) sued President Donald Trump on Thursday (7) for their efforts to dismantle the humanitarian agency, which has existed for decades.
Multiple sources told CNN That less than 300 agency employees should be maintained, while many others will be placed on indefinite or fired license.
The lawsuit also aims to freeze almost all foreign assistance by the administration – a measure that paralyzed essential humanitarian work around the world and led thousands of contractors to be dismissed or fired.
This is the first process filed against the sequence of actions taken against USAID.
The lawsuit was filed with the Federal Court in Washington, DC, Democracy Forward and Public Citizen Litigation Group, on behalf of the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) and the American Government Employees Federation (AFGE). Labor group lawyers are asking the court to order the reversal of actions taken to close the agency and “interrupt any additional steps to dissolve the agency” while the action follows.
It is unclear whether the court will intervene in an emergency manner before Friday (7), at 11:59 pm (local time), when, according to USAID ,. It is possible for the Court to decide on different parts of the process at different times.
The lawsuit against Trump, as well as his Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and his agencies, argues that the president is overcoming his authority in violation of the Constitution and Federal Law.
“None of the defendants’ actions to dismantle USAID was taken with congressional permission,” says the lawsuit. “According to federal law, Congress is the only entity that can legally dismantle the agency.”
The groups say Trump’s recent actions are illegal to the power of Congress.
“President Trump’s actions to dissolve to exceed the presidential authority and usurp the legislative authority conferred to Congress by the Constitution, in violation of the separation of powers,” the lawsuit states.
“Usaid’s dismantling, including its foreign service members, has played dedicated public servants-and their families-in chaos and uncertainty,” said AFSA President Tom Yazdgerdi in a statement on Thursday.
“These professionals have spent their careers promoting America’s interests abroad, just to see their lives turned upside down at night.”
“The consequences of this interruption go far beyond individual careers – weakens US leadership and undermines global stability worldwide. AFSA will continue to defend its members and seek all options to protect this essential workforce, ”he said.
Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, argued that “Trump’s USAID is part of a coordinated campaign to undermine the will of Congress and isolate America in the world.”
Trump said on Monday that he does not need Congress to end USAID, which has left perplexing legal experts, who say the president has no legal authority to unilaterally dismantle independent federal agencies like USAID.
“Not when it comes to fraud. If there is fraud, these people are lunatic, ”said Trump when asked by journalist Jeff Zeleny from CNN about your ability to make drastic changes at USAID. “We just want to do what is right. This is something that should have been done for a long time. ”
The groups have highlighted the impact of the various actions that Trump has taken in recent days to dismantle the agency, including the freezing of foreign assistance and mass layoffs of USAID contractors and beneficiaries.
“These actions generated one, beneficiaries and hired. They cost thousands of US jobs. And they endangered US national security interests, ”the group’s lawyers wrote in the process.
They continued to say that “interrupting USAID’s work interrupted efforts to prevent children from dying of malaria, stopped pharmaceutical clinical trials and threatened a global resurgence of HIV. Deaths are inevitable. Already, 300 babies who would not have HIV, now they have. Thousands of girls and women will die during pregnancy and childbirth. Without judicial intervention, this will only get worse. ”
