The Trump administration’s abrupt move to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has upended the lives of thousands of American employees and family members posted overseas, leaving them facing costly and difficult decisions, agency personnel said.
A US judge said he would enter a “very limited” temporary order blocking the Trump administration’s changes to the agency, but the fate of its staff remained uncertain.
The employees affected by Trump’s actions include pregnant women whose plans to fly back to the United States to deliver their babies have been disrupted and families who will return home without housing or schooling for their children, they said.
“We literally have focused our life on this USAID mission, and we do not have a home to go back to,” said the spouse of a Latin America-based employee. “We don’t know how we’re supposed to pick up and just leave.”
She joined several agency personnel who spoke during an online briefing arranged by StandUpForAID, a group of current and former officials formed to raise awareness of the impacts of Trump’s cuts to the agency.
All requested anonymity out of fear of retribution for speaking out.
US President Donald Trump froze US foreign assistance after taking office on January 20, stalling billions of dollars in food, health and other programmes. The spending freeze is supposed to last 90 days pending a review of efficiencies and consistency with Trump’s foreign policy.
USAID, the chief US humanitarian agency and an employer of more than 10,000 people – including more than 1,900 Americans posted abroad – became the first target of the effort led by billionaire Elon Musk to reduce the size of the US government.
The US Department of State did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
More than one dozen pregnant agency employees and spouses planning to fly home for their deliveries at USAID expense are stranded overseas, said a USAID employee.
“We are unsure if Secretary (of State Marco) Rubio and President Trump are going to abandon us overseas or abandon us when we land on American soil,” she said.
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