USAID workers pay mournful final visit to agency to clear out their belongings under federal guard

WASHINGTON — U.S. Agency for International Development workers who have been fired or placed on leave as part of the Trump administration's dismantling of the agency began paying mournful final visits to their abruptly closed Washington headquarters on Thursday, under the administration's 15-minute windows to clear out their offices while escorted by federal officers. Some staffers wept as they carried out grocery bags and suitcases with what was left from their life's work. Supporters clapped and cheered outside or drove by tapping their car horns to bolster their spirits. A woman coming back out of the building loaded down with backpacks and bags burst into tears at the cheers that greeted her. Many of a small but growing crowd of supporters outside enveloped her in hugs. USAID has been one of the biggest targets of a broad campaign by President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency, a project of Trump adviser Elon Musk, to slash the size of the federal government. The actions at USAID leave only a small fraction of its employees on the job. Trump and Musk have moved swiftly to shutter the foreign aid agency, calling its programs out of line with the Republican president's agenda and asserting without evidence that its work is wasteful. In addition to its scope, their effort is extraordinary because it has not involved Congress, which authorized the agency and has provided its funding. Federal officers were waiting outside USAID's former headquarters as well, intercepting USAID staffers as they arrived, rolling suitcases or toting bags, to escort them inside. David Radcliffe, who spent 30 years at the Department of Defense as an Army veteran and civil servant, was one of those showing up in support of the federal aid staffers. The message on the sign he carried: "YOU Made America Great! Thank You USAID." USAID's aid and development work over the decade had represented the best of the United States to the world and distinguished the U.S. as a leader, Radcliffe said. "I'm shocked and dismayed," he said. "It makes no sense from a policy perspective." While larger bureaus at the agency are urging supporters to turn up to "clap out" staffers over the next two days, a Trump administration ban on USAID staffers speaking publicly also has many fearing retaliation if they speak publicly. "We're just here to say thank you for your service. We appreciate everything you've done and all the sacrifices you've made in service to your country," said Randy Chester, the vice president of the American Foreign Service Association representing USAID staffers. Chester's is among several nonprofits and businesses suing the Trump administration over a more than monthlong cutoff of foreign assistance funds that has shut down U.S. humanitarian and development aid around the world and its mass removals of USAID workers. USAID placed 4,080 staffers who work across the globe on leave Monday. That was joined by a "reduction in force" that will affect another 1,600 employees, a State Department spokesman said in an emailed response to questions. USAID has been one of the biggest targets so far of a broad campaign by President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency, a project of Trump adviser Elon Musk, to slash the size of the federal government. The actions at USAID leave only a small fraction of its employees on the job. Trump and Musk have moved swiftly to shutter the foreign aid agency, calling its programs out of line with the Republican president's agenda and asserting without evidence that its work is wasteful. In addition to its scope, their effort is extraordinary because it has not involved Congress, which authorized the agency and has provided its funding. A report from the Congressional Research Service earlier this month said congressional authorization is required "to abolish, move, or consolidate USAID," but the Republican majorities in the House and the Senate have made no pushback against the administration's actions. There's virtually nothing left to fund, anyway: The administration now says it is eliminating more than 90% of USAID's foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in U.S. assistance around the world. On Thursday, someone had left a bucket of flowers outside the building, for workers to place at the memorial wall inside to the 99 USAID workers killed in the line of duty. It's unclear how many of the more than 5,600 USAID employees who have been fired or placed on leave work at the agency's headquarters building in Washington. A notice on the agency's website said staff at other locations will have the chance to collect their personal belongings at a later date. The notice laid out instructions for when specific groups of employees should arrive to be screened by security and escorted to their former workspaces. Those being let go must turn in all USAID-issued assets. Workers on administrative leave were told to retain their USAID-issued materials, including diplomatic passports, "until such time that they are separated from the agency." Many USAID workers saw the administration's terms for retrieving their belongings as insulting. In the notice, the employees were instructed not to bring weapons, including firearms, "spear guns" and "hand grenades." Each worker is being given just 15 minutes at their former workstation. The administration's efforts to slash the federal government are embroiled in various lawsuits, but court challenges to temporarily halt the shutdown of USAID have been unsuccessful. However, a federal judge on Tuesday gave the Trump administration a deadline of this week to release billions of dollars in U.S. foreign aid, saying it had given no sign of complying with his nearly two-week-old court order to ease the funding freeze. Late Wednesday, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked that order, with Chief Justice John Roberts saying it will remain on hold until the high court has a chance to weigh in more fully. That court action resulted from a lawsuit filed by nonprofit organizations over the cutoff of foreign assistance through USAID and the State Department. Trump froze the money through an executive order on his first day in office that targeted what he portrayed as wasteful programs that do not correspond to his foreign policy goals. Virginia Democratic Rep. Gerald Connolly said in a statement that the attack on USAID employees was "unwarranted and unprecedented." Connolly, whose district includes a sizable federal workforce, called the aid agency workers part of the "world's premier development and foreign assistance agency" who save "millions of lives every year."