International Development workers were allowed to briefly reenter the headquarters in Washington, on February 27, to collect their personal belongings and clear out their desks, a day after President Donald Trump’s administration said it was cutting more than 90% of the agency’s aid contracts.
USAID workers left the agency headquarters on Thursday carrying cardboard boxes of personal items to applause and cheers from about 80 people, a mix of fellow workers and members of the public who had come to show their support.
Workers were given only 15 minutes to collect their personal belongings, according to a memo seen by Reuters.
Amanda Naturo, a mother with two children who was terminated, told Reuters: "I worry about the people that have gone this many days without food, without medicine, without the humanitarian assistance that we promised them. My hope is that the work isn’t abandoned completely."
Trump ordered a 90-day pause on all foreign aid in January to conduct a sweeping review to ensure that all the projects funded with U.S. taxpayer money were aligned with his "America First" policy.
The order, and ensuing stop work orders, threw USAID into turmoil, halting the agency’s operations around the world, jeopardizing the delivery of life-saving food and medical aid and throwing global humanitarian relief efforts into chaos.
Trump tasked billionaire and adviser Elon Musk with dismantling USAID as part of an unprecedented push to shrink the federal government over what both say is wasteful spending and abuse of funds.
Despite the wide-ranging cuts a State Department spokesperson said that critical awards including food assistance, life-saving medical treatments for HIV, and other critical support remained.
However, several of the largest U.S.-funded HIV/AIDS programs in South Africa were told that their funding would not resume, while a global non-profit that works on malaria and maternal and newborn health had the majority of its contracts canceled. UNAIDS, the United Nations agency tackling HIV and AIDS, had its contract with USAID canceled.
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