A judge in the United States has issued an order compelling President Donald Trump’s administration to lift its three-week funding freeze on foreign aid.
Fox News reports that Judge Amir Ali issued the order on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Washington in a lawsuit brought by two health organizations that receive funding for programs abroad.
Ali said that Trump officials failed to explain why a “blanket suspension” of foreign aid programs was necessary before the programs were more thoroughly reviewed.
Newspot reports that USAID, established in 1961 under the Kennedy administration, had come under harsh criticism recently.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a letter to bipartisan lawmakers on February 3, said the agency could be abolished after its reorganization over the coming days.
Additionally, tech billionaire Elon Musk, who leads President Donald Trump’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has moved to seize control of the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID).
More than 50 senior USAID staff members have also been placed on administrative leave and subjected to a gag order.
