The Trump administration is eliminating more than 1,600 positions at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and placing the majority of remaining staff on administrative leave worldwide. The changes took effect just before midnight on Sunday.

The Associated Press reported that it reviewed notices sent to USAID employees, confirming the administration’s plan to cut jobs.

“As of 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday, February 23, 2025, all USAID direct hire personnel, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and/or specially designated programs, will be placed on administrative leave globally,” the notices state.

BREAKING: USAID announces all staff will be placed on administrative leave starting Feb 7 (Friday) pic.twitter.com/GiBFvg2eUt

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) February 5, 2025

Under the new directive, fewer than 300 staff members will remain on the job, down from the agency’s total workforce of approximately 8,000 contractors and direct hires. In addition, an unspecified number of the 5,000 locally hired international staff members will continue working on select life-saving programs that the administration has decided to maintain.

Staff members leaving USAID’s Washington, D.C., offices on Friday were seen carrying boxes, some with written messages about the layoffs. One box had the phrase, “We are abandoning the world,” while another had a note reading, “You can take the humanitarians out of USAID but you can’t take the humanity out of the humanitarians.”

The layoffs come after weeks of notifications to affected employees. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols lifted a temporary restraining order that had delayed the mass dismissals. Nichols also declined to issue a long-term order that would have allowed employees to remain in their positions.

The Trump administration has pursued major changes to USAID, including a 90-day pause on foreign aid. In addition, President Trump appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio as the acting director of the agency.

USAID has been criticized by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for alleged wasteful spending. Senator Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the Senate DOGE Caucus Chairwoman, recently published a list of programs funded by the agency, including $20 million to produce a Sesame Street show in Iraq.

Additional USAID-funded projects under scrutiny include more than $900,000 allocated to the Bayader Association for Environment and Development, described as a “Gaza-based terror charity,” and a $1.5 million program aimed at promoting “diversity, equity, and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities.”