Trump’s requirement of US workers to return to domestic sparks outraged in Washington and anxiety abroad – Associated Press

Washington (AP) – Possils boils over Wednesday among the supporters of the United States Leading Aid at Washington Racing, and anxious workers abroad collided to pack household out of work and outside the fieldS

The order, issued on Tuesday, followed 2 1/2 weeks that saw the Trump Administration and the teams led by billionaire Elon Musk Disassembly much US Agency for International DevelopmentClosing a mission with six decades designed to reduce US security by teaching children, fighting epidemics and the development of another development abroad.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio who has been Central America On his first visit to the service, he defended the widespread exclusion of the funding administration for help and other actions as he said, “Our preference would be to do this in a more implicit way.”

But, said Rubio, the administration was confronted with a lack of cooperation in an attempt to review the value of each agency’s program. He did not give any evidence and the agency’s employees deny his allegations and Musk as an obstacle. As a result, Rubio said, the administration will now “work from the bottom up” to determine which US assistance and development missions abroad are in national interest and will be allowed to resume.

“This is not about terminating foreign assistance. It is about structuring it in a way that encourages the national interest of the United States, “he said in the Guatemalan capital of Guatemala City.

In Washington, democratic legislators and hundreds of others gathered outside Capitol to protest against the rapid suspension of an independent government agency. “It’s illegal and it’s a coup,” California Democratic Representatives California Sarah Jacobs.

“In real time, we are witnessing the most corrupt deal in American history,” called Maryland Senator Chris Van Holen to the supporters of the rally Agencies.

“Lock it!” The members of the crowd chanted. Turning to democratic MPs who promised court battles and other efforts but failed to slow down the attack on USAID, they said, “Go to your job!”

Scott Paul, director of American Humanitive, with a non -profit Oxfam purpose, said that the damage caused means that the key parts of the global assistance and development system would need to be restored “from scratch”.

Jennifer Cates, Senior Vice President and Director of the Global Health and HIV program at KFF, quotes only one major organization that expects to close up to 1.226 clinics for mother and children serving more than 630,000 women.

“It is not the one that you just press and turn off,” Cates said. If the exclusion of the United States fires employees and close these clinics, “you can’t just say,” Okay, we’re ready to start again. Let’s go.

USAID is one of the most affected agencies such as the new administration and the target of the budget cutting team Federal programs They are said to be wasteful or not aligned with the conservative program.

US embassies in many more than 100 countries in which USAID performs accustomed meetings for emergency mayoralties for thousands of employees and contractors who are looking for answers. Embassy officials said they were not given guidance on what to say to employees, more specially, local rents, about their labor status.

A USAID contractor, published in a commonly violent region of the Middle East, said the suspension had put the contractor and the contractor’s family in danger as they were unable to reach the US government for help if necessary.

The contractor woke up one morning this week, blocked by access to government email and other systems, and the Emergency Panic was deleted from the contractor’s smartphone.

“You really feel detached from the rescue line,” said the Treaty officer, speaking on condition of anonymity due to a ban on the Trump administration, banning USAID workers from talking to people outside their agency.

USAID employees and families have already encountered tingling solutions as the auditory order is outlined, including whether to take the children from the school in the middle of the year. Some gave out cats and dogs for pets, fearing that the administration will not give workers time to complete the documents to bring the animals with them.

Despite the administration’s assurances that the US government will return the agency workers safely at home, as ordered within 30 days, some are afraid of being stuck and left to return.

Most agencies have been ordered frozen and most workers at the Washington headquarters have been removed from work, which makes it unclear how the administration will manage and pay for the sudden relocation of thousands of employees and their families.

The mass removal of thousands of employees will condemn billions of dollars projects in about 120 countriesIncluding the security of the security of Ukraine and other countries, as well as work for the development of clean water, training for work and education, including for students under the management of Taliban in Afghanistan.

The online notification of workers and USAID contractors said they would remain out of work, effectively shortly before midnight Friday, unless it was considered essential. The direct rents of the agency abroad received 30 days to return home, the announcement said.

The United States is the largest humanitarian donor in the world so far. He spends less than 1% of his budget for foreign assistance, a smaller share of his budget from some countries.

Hundreds of millions of dollars food and medicines that have already been delivered by US companies are sitting in ports for stopping.

Health programs, such as those credited to assist in the termination of polio and epidemics of large pattern and an applauded HIV/AIDS program that saved more than 20 million lives in Africa have stopped. So there are programs for monitoring and implementing teams for a quick response for infectious diseases such as Ebola.

South African Minister of Health Aaron Motoaledi told Parliament on Wednesday that employees were confronted to meet with US Embassy employees for information after receiving no warning that the Trump administration would freeze the decisive funding for the largest national program For HIV/AIDS in the world.

South Africa has the highest number of people in the world living with HIV, at about 8 million, and the United States funds about 17% of their $ 2.3 billion per year through President’s emergency plan for AIDS or Pepfar’s reliefS The Minister of Health did not say whether the exceptions of us for saving care concerned this work.

Democrats and others say USAID has been enshrined in legislation as an independent agency and cannot be closed without congressional approval. USAID supporters from the two political parties say that his work abroad is essential to counteract the influence of Russia, China and other opponents and rivals abroad and to cementing alliances and partnerships.

In Istanbul on Wednesday, Hakan Bilgin was sitting in a decreased office of his non -profit medical attention, surrounded by midfielder boxes and worried colleagues. A few days ago, doctors of the world Turkey received an unexpected order to stop working from USAID, forcing them to close 12 field hospitals and to fire over 300 employees in northern Syria.

“As a medical organization providing life -saving services, you generally say:” Close all clinics, stop all your doctors and do not provide services to women, children and the elderly, “Bilgin said.

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Lee reported from the city of Guatemala, Guatemala. Associated Press Writers Adriana Gomez Likon in Washington, Robert Baddic in Istanbul and Laura Unggar in Louisville, Kentucky, have contributed to this report.