The administration of President Donald Trump is getting rid of thousands of workers at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). 

Breitbart News reports that as many as 2,000 USAID workers have been placed on "administrative leave" by the Trump administration.

This appears to be part of the administration's attempt to reign the federal government in, by locating and eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse.

To that end, the Trump administration has terminated a huge number of federal employees, and it looks as though the administration does not plan on slowing down any time soon.

The details:

According to the Associated Press, the terminations at USAID took place on Sunday.

Per the outlet:

The Trump administration moved its fast-paced dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development toward what appeared to be its final phases, telling all but a fraction of staffers worldwide that they were on leave as of Monday and notifying at least 1,600 of the U.S.-based staffers they were being fired.

The outlet goes on to quote the notice that employees received.

It, in part, read:

As of 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday, February 23, 2025, all USAID direct hire personnel, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership, and/or specially designated programs, will be placed on administrative leave globally.

It is not clear what the final termination tally will be. There seems to be a discrepancy of about 400, with some reports saying that it could be 2,000 firings and others saying 1,600. Either way, it is a significant number of employees.

Background

This all comes after a federal judge essentially gave the Trump administration the go-ahead to place these employees on administrative leave.

A lawsuit had been filed attempting to stop Trump from making this move. But, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols dismissed it.

Breitbart reports:

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols ruled that the “two unions representing thousands of foreign service officers had failed to demonstrate how personnel changes at USAID” would lead to “irreparable harm” and added that if the Trump administration felt it was necessary to put workers on administrative leave, they can.

This came as somewhat of a surprise as Nichols initially blocked the Trump administration's attempt to remove these employees. But, that was only a temporary stay. Now, Nichols has determined that the Trump administration is allowed to proceed.

"According to the government, interfering with this ‘pencils down’ approach would prevent it from auditing USAID’s operations in the manner necessary to ensure the agency is acting in the national (and perhaps global) interest," he wrote.