Laid Off USAID Employees Express Frustration, Greeted by Supporters

The former workers say they continue to stand by the agency’s humanitarian mission.

People stand outside in support of USAID employees leaving the agency's building in Washington on Feb. 27, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

WASHINGTON—Former employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) gathered outside its former headquarters on Feb. 27 to clean out their offices after President Donald Trump’s administration laid off much of its staff in an effort to downsize the federal government.

The employees had 15 minutes to clean out their offices while being escorted by security personnel.

Outside, a crowd of supporters cheered and applauded workers as they exited the building. The supporters carried signs praising the agency and criticizing Trump’s administration. Passing cars honked in solidarity.

The scene unfolded a little more than a month after Trump ordered a freeze on all foreign aid followed by plans to restructure—or potentially eliminate—USAID and reduce its workforce.

Federal employee unions sued to stop those plans, and District Judge Carl Nichols temporarily blocked the Trump administration from downsizing the agency.

On Feb. 21 he lifted that block, and two days later the administration announced it would lay off 1,600 USAID employees.

The events also come on the heels of a government-wide audit by the federal cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which says it has uncovered multiple instances of gross misuse of funds by USAID.

In one recent example, investigators sent to USAID by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Senate DOGE Caucus chair, alleged they had found “secret slush funds being used to funnel millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars into Ukraine for questionable purposes.”

All these factors make the future of USAID uncertain, even as its former employees said they continue to stand by the agency’s humanitarian mission.

One supporter, a retired USAID employee handing roses to the departing workers, said she understood the need to make cuts in the agency but felt the process had been too “disorganized” and hasty.

Laura Kennedy, a former diplomat to the Soviet Union, Turkmenistan, and Turkey, told The Epoch Times that she showed up to cheer on USAID employees because she was “a big believer in what they do to promote American security and prosperity overseas.”

“People think of it as a giveaway. Absolutely not the case,” she said.

Many of the former employees were too wracked with grief to speak, and could only weep and hug their coworkers. Most workers were cagey about speaking to The Epoch Times and would only do so anonymously, or using a fake name, including Bob.

A former foreign service employee, Bob said this was from fear of retaliation while severance compensation was still being negotiated.

A contractor who oversaw projects in East Africa for USAID and preferred to go by Lisa Marie said the abrupt shutdown of funding had left her consulting agency with unpaid invoices going back to November.

“And you know, to be honest, it’s tough, but I don’t worry about myself as much as I worry about those grantees in that war-torn country,” Lisa Marie said. “We’ve left them high and dry, we should be ashamed as a country about doing that.”

One former budget officer echoed this sentiment.

She noted that the federal government had indeed issued waivers that allowed continued funding for food and medical services, but the hastiness of the shutdown meant they were not being distributed because the infrastructure had been thrown into chaos.

Some of the food was spoiled, or in danger of spoiling, she said.

“And then you’ve gotten rid of the global health people, the people that can administer the medicine, because you’ve ripped them out of that area.”