By Edward Wong NYTimes News Service
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WASHINGTON — Trump administration appointees in charge of the U.S. Agency for International Development sent employees an email Sunday afternoon saying that they were firing 2,000 workers and putting up to thousands of foreign service officers and other direct hires around the world on paid leave starting Sunday night.

The only exceptions to the leave would be people working on “mission-critical programs,” as well as “core leadership” and employees supporting “specially designated programs,” according to a copy of the email obtained by The New York Times.

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The email said appointees running USAID were firing 2,000 employees based in the United States using a mechanism called “reduction in force.” The mass firings are part of a series of layoffs of agency employees by the Trump administration during a broad effort to halt almost all U.S. foreign aid using a blanket freeze.

The moves came after a judge ruled Friday that the Trump administration could proceed with plans to lay off or put on paid leave many agency employees and close down operations overseas, which means forcing employees based abroad to come back to the United States. Some of those employees say they expect to be fired once they return home.

The judge, Carl J. Nichols of the U.S. District Court in Washington, had been reviewing a lawsuit that aimed to block Trump administration officials from enacting the layoffs at the aid agency, putting people on paid leave and compelling overseas employees to quickly return home.

Since late January, Pete Marocco, a State Department political appointee who was a divisive figure in the first Trump administration, has overseen the dismantling of the aid agency, working alongside Elon Musk, the tech billionaire adviser to President Donald Trump who has posted dark conspiracy theories about USAID.

Early this month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that he was the new acting administrator of the agency and was appointing Marocco as his deputy.

The email Sunday said employees taking the “voluntary” route to returning from overseas soon would have their travel paid for by the agency.

Last week, the appointees running the agency fired about 400 employees who work as contractors on urgent humanitarian assistance. That action added to an understanding among many employees that Rubio does not actually support such programs.

Late last month, Rubio promised that “lifesaving humanitarian assistance” programs could continue. But almost no programs have been able to operate because the agency’s payment system does not function, meaning partner groups cannot get funds.

Rubio has said some foreign aid will continue after a 90-day review process, but neither he nor Marocco, who oversees foreign aid at the State Department, have publicly explained the process, if there is one.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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