Judge won’t block Trump’s mass termination of USAID contractors

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, appointed by President Donald Trump, ruled that the contractors failed to prove their firings constituted irreparable harm, denying their request for emergency relief. The ruling follows Nichols’s earlier decision against a USAID union seeking to block the termination of more than 2,000 direct-hire employees.

Hundreds of people gathered near the Capitol to protest the dismantling of USAID, the international agency charged with dispensing humanitarian aid around the world on behalf of the U.S. (Graeme Jennings / Washington Examiner)

According to USAID Deputy Administrator Peter Marocco, 791 contractors in “high- and middle-income countries” such as the U.S., Moldova, and Thailand were let go. Marocco stated their contracts were inconsistent with USAID’s mission to aid lower-income nations, and terminations began on Feb.

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