Trump Admin’s Foreign Aid Freeze Hits a Wall as Judge Orders Immediate Action

A federal judge just delivered a major blow to the Trump administration, ordering it to lift its controversial funding freeze that has shut down U.S. humanitarian aid and development work around the world. The judge didn’t stop there—he also gave the administration just five days to prove it was actually complying.

The late Thursday ruling marks the first major legal challenge to Trump’s decision to cut off aid payments overnight, a move that has financially devastated nonprofits, government suppliers, and farmers who rely on USAID funding. AP News reported that lawsuits against the administration’s dismantling of foreign aid programs are piling up, with employees, aid groups, and contractors all fighting back.

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Trump and his close ally Elon Musk have argued that USAID—the six-decade-old agency responsible for distributing U.S. foreign assistance—isn’t aligned with their agenda. However, Judge Amir H. Ali wasn’t buying their reasoning. In his ruling, he slammed the administration for failing to justify its sweeping decision.

“Administration officials have not offered any explanation for why a blanket suspension of all congressionally appropriated foreign aid, which set off a shockwave and upended contracts with thousands of nonprofit groups, businesses, and others, was a rational precursor to reviewing programs,” Ali wrote.

The funding freeze has caused chaos, leaving U.S. farmers and suppliers unpaid for hundreds of millions of dollars in completed work. Nonprofits have been forced to lay off staff, and critical food aid is reportedly sitting in ports, rotting due to lack of distribution. In some regions, undelivered aid is now at risk of theft.

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The ruling, which stems from a lawsuit filed by the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and the Global Health Council, bars Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other Trump officials from enforcing stop-work orders that had been sent to organizations carrying out foreign aid projects. The judge also rejected the administration’s claim that it was softening the blow by offering waivers, pointing out that no such system actually exists, and that USAID’s payment system is currently non-functional.

Adding to the legal setbacks, another federal judge extended a temporary block on Trump’s plan to gut USAID staff worldwide. In a separate ruling, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols questioned the government’s failure to ensure the safety of American aid workers abroad, particularly in places like the Congo, where looting and political violence recently forced abandoned staffers to flee with their families.

With the clock ticking, the Trump administration must now notify all affected organizations of the judge’s temporary stay by Tuesday and prove that they are complying. So far, the White House has remained silent on the ruling, but with aid organizations and contractors on the brink of collapse, the pressure is mounting.

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