U.S. federal judge Carl Nichols announced on Friday (February 2) that he would issue a temporary injunction to prevent the Trump administration from forcing 7 U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees to take leave and suspend the deployment of some humanitarian aid workers stationed abroad.
According to Reuters, the Trump administration announced on the 6th that it would significantly reduce the size of USAID, retaining only 1 "essential personnel" out of approximately 611 employees worldwide, triggering a strong backlash. The Foreign Service Association, the largest government employee union in the United States, immediately filed a lawsuit trying to stop the layoff plan and asked the court to restore USAID operations.
Subsequently, Nichols, a federal judge nominated during Trump's first term, issued a temporary injunction temporarily blocking the government from implementing the layoff plan, allowing about 2700 employees to return to work. However, he did not seem to intend to approve the union's other demands, such as asking the government to reopen USAID offices and restore grants and contract funding.
