USAID direct hires put on leave worldwide, except those deemed essential [View all]

Source: Associated Press

USAID direct hires put on leave worldwide, except those deemed essential

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and MATTHEW LEE
Updated 9:50 PM EST, February 4, 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is placing U.S. Agency for International Development direct-hire staffers around the world on leave, except those deemed essential.

A notice posted online Tuesday gives the workers 30 days to return home, upending the aid agency’s six-decade mission overseas.

Thousands of USAID employees already had been laid off and programs worldwide shut down after President Donald Trump imposed a sweeping freeze on foreign assistance.

Elon Musk’s budget-slashing Department of Government Efficiency had taken USAID’s website offline over the weekend as it steadily dismantled the agency, which has been a special target of Musk, Trump and Republicans in the first two-and-a-half weeks of Trump’s second term. The website came back online Tuesday night, with the notice of recall or termination for global staffers its sole post.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/trump-usaid-layoffs-7e0a159d8a419c4c9388ab02e8259f23