A federal court has issued a “very limited” temporary order halting President Donald Trump’s plan to gut the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The judge issued a restraining order that would block 2,200 employees from being put on administrative leave as was scheduled by midnight Friday. USAID employs about 10,000 people – two-thirds of whom work overseas.

Attorneys for employees of the agency, which is the US government’s main overseas development organisation, filed an emergency petition aiming to halt the plan to place the vast majority of its workforce on leave.

Some 611 would have been kept working under the plan by Trump and billionaire Elon Musk.

Trump has singled out the agency as he is a long-term critic of overseas spending, arguing USAID is not a valuable use of taxpayer money.

It is one of many federal agencies the Trump administration is targeting as it works to slash federal spending and the role of government in the US. Trump campaigned on overhauling the government and formed an advisory body named the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) – led by Musk – to cut the budget.

Friday’s order by US District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington DC came after a lawsuit was filed by American Foreign Service Association and American Federation of Government Employees – two unions representing employees of the agency.

The lawsuit argued that the president is violating the US Constitution and federal law by attempting to dismantle the agency. “Not a single one of defendants’ actions to dismantle USAID were taken pursuant to congressional authorization,” it says.

“And pursuant to federal statute, Congress is the only entity that may lawfully dismantle the agency.”

On Thursday, the Trump administration sent notice to employees at USAID that it planned to gut the organisation and keep on 611 essential employees.

A justice department official, Brett Shumate, told the judge that about 2,200 employees would be put on paid leave. He told the court that Trump “has decided there is corruption and fraud at USAID”.

Friday’s court ruling came as officials removed and covered signs with black duct tape for the agency in Washington DC – where the organisation is headquartered.

Its office in Washington has been closed all week as Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency targeted the agency.

The cuts to USAID have upended the global aid system as hundreds of programmes have been frozen in countries around the world.

The US is by far the biggest single provider of humanitarian aid around the world. It has bases in more than 60 countries and works in dozens of others, with much of its work carried out by its contractors.

Former USAID chiefs have criticised the reported cutback plan. One of them, Gayle Smith, stressed to the BBC that the US had always been the fastest to arrive during humanitarian crises around the world.

“When you pull all of that out, you send some very dangerous messages,” Smith said. “The US is signalling that we don’t frankly care whether people live or die and that we’re not a reliable partner.”

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Source: www.bbc.com