A US federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to temporarily lift a funding freeze that has shut down US aid and development work worldwide. The sudden shutdown has resulted in sweeping damage to non-profits and other organizations that help carry out crucial US assistance internationally, US District Judge Amir Ali said while issuing the temporary order on Thursday. The freeze has shut down almost all of the thousands of US-funded aid and development programs globally, USAID workers and humanitarian groups say. The court ruling is the second major setback for the Trump administration in its dismantling of the six-decade-old US Agency for International Development (USAID). US President Donald Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk, who runs the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), say the agency is out of line with their agenda. The decision by the US district court in Washington is the first to target what aid groups have described as a sudden and absolute cutoff of USAID funds for programmes abroad. Contractors, farmers and suppliers in the US and around the world have been left without hundreds of millions of dollars in pay for work already done, and have been forced to carry out wide-scale layoffs and furloughs as a result. Ali's ruling followed a lawsuit brought forth by two organizations — the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and the Global Health Council — who represent health organizations receiving US funds for work abroad. Ali noted that the Trump administration argued it had to shut down funding for the thousands of USAID aid programs abroad to conduct a "thorough review" of each program individually, and decide on whether or not it should be eliminated. Yet he said administration officials "have not offered any explanation for why a blanket suspension of all congressionally appropriated foreign aid, which set off a shockwave and upended reliance interests for thousands of agreements with businesses, nonprofits, and organizations around the country, was a rational precursor to reviewing programs." Lawyers for the administration had failed to show they had a "rational reason for disregarding the countless small and large businesses that would have to shutter programs or shutter their businesses altogether," according to Ali. The ruling also bars US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and other Trump officials from enforcing stop-work orders that the Trump administration and Musk have sent to the companies and organizations carrying out foreign aid orders. The funding order applies to contracts that were in place before Trump issued his 20 January 20 executive order declaring a freeze on foreign assistance. Earlier on Thursday, a judge in a separate case relating to the dismantling of USAID and US aid programs abroad said that his order halting the Trump administration's plans halting plans to pull all but a fraction of the agency's staffers off the job worldwide will stay in place for at least another week. US District Judge Carl Nichols ordered the extension after a nearly three-hour hearing, much of it focused on how employees were affected by Trump and Musk's abrupt orders. The judge said he plans to issue a written ruling in the coming days on whether the pause will continue. Thousands of USAID and humanitarian workers face the risk of losing their jobs as the Musk-run DOGE looks to continue slashing "unnecessary spending" and prioritize cost-cutting initiatives. — BBC
