Judge Stops DOGE From Shutting Down African Aid Agency After Tense Standoff With Staff
DOGE staffers returned to the U.S. African Development Foundation Thursday with U.S. marshals, demanding access to the agency.
After several employees of a small foreign assistance agency faced a "traumatizing" show of force by Department of Government Efficiency staffers who were accompanied by several U.S. marshals Thursday in an effort to take over their offices, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from shutting down the agency in the coming days.
Ward Brehm, president of the U.S. Africa Development Foundation (USADF), filed a lawsuit Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, arguing that DOGE's attempt to remove Brehm from his position and take over the agency violates the Appointments Clause and the African Development Foundation Act, the law passed by Congress which created USADF.
U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon, an appointee of former Republican President George W. Bush, issued a temporary injunction. Brehm and the advocacy group Democracy Forward, which is representing him in the suit, also requested a permanent injunction.
Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, called the ruling "a sigh of relief for people in the United States and across the globe who benefit from the safer and more resilient communities USADF's work creates."
"Democracy Forward will continue to meet the Trump administration in court with every unlawful step it takes," said Perryman. "We will continue to use every tool available to protect USADF and fight back against the Trump-Musk overreach."
After first attempting to gain access to the UDSADF offices on Wednesday—an effort that was blocked by about 30 agency employees—DOGE staffers returned to the agency on Thursday at about 10:30 am, accompanied by Pete Marocco, director of the State Department Office of Foreign Assistance, and five U.S. marshals.
Many of the USADF employees worked from home on Thursday after the incident the previous day; the ones who were in the office avoided a confrontation with the DOGE employees and U.S. marshals by exiting the building via a stairwell, leaving their personal belongings behind.
USADF officials who spoke to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity—to avoid retribution by DOGE and the White House—described the scene as "frantic and 'traumatizing.'"
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on February 19 ordering "a reduction in the elements of the federal bureaucracy that the president has determined are unnecessary," including USADF, which works to further economic development across Africa by partnering with farmers and field staff; the think tank U.S. Institute of Peace; the Presidio Trust, which oversees a national park site in San Francisco; and the Inter-American Foundation (IAF), which invests in development across Latin America and the Caribbean.
Brehm said in his legal filing that DOGE staffers tried to access USADF's computer systems shortly after the executive order was signed.
"When USADF learned that DOGE was there to kill the agency, USADF staff refused DOGE access to cancel all grants and contracts," read the complaint.
DOGE placed nearly all the employees of the IAF on administrative leave this week after canceling grants for investments in alpaca farming in Peru, beekeeping in Brazil, and vegetable growing in El Salvador.
On Thursday, USADF staff told the Post in a statement that their offices "were entered today by Mr. Peter Marocco and others who we do not believe are authorized to represent the agency. USADF is fully complying with its statutory obligations. We will follow the law with the expectation that our staff will be treated with dignity and respect."
A White House spokesperson, Anna Kelly, referred to Brehm in a statement as an "entitled, rogue bureaucrat" and claimed he has "no authority to defy executive orders by the president of the United States or physically bar his representatives from entering the agencies they run."
A USADF official told the Post Wednesday that "it's explicit in the statute [that created USADF] that the agency can only be dissolved by an act of Congress and the president can only be hired and fired by the board."
In his lawsuit, Brehm wrote that if DOGE shuts down USADF, "we will feel the ripple effects across the African continent and in the United States."
"Our work boosts economic stability in fragile regions, with investments in more than 1,000 African-owned and led businesses, entrepreneurs, and organizations," said Brehm. "Not only have we improved the lives of millions of people in Africa, we've contributed to a safer and more secure world."
