An American judge has suspended President Donald Trump’s decision issued at the end of January regarding the freeze on US foreign aid funds for 90 days as part of a broad review of these programs, according to AFP.
Judge Amir Ali ordered all US government agencies not to “suspend, halt, or obstruct the release of international humanitarian aid funds associated with contracts, grants, cooperation agreements, and loans that were in effect as of January 19, 2025,” just before the US president’s decree was set to take effect.
Trump froze US foreign aid after taking office on January 20, which led to the suspension of programs related to food, health, and others worth billions of dollars.
The spending freeze is expected to last for 90 days while reviews regarding the efficiency of these programs and their alignment with Trump’s foreign policy are conducted.
Nonprofit organizations have considered Trump’s directive and the subsequent memo to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, which halted commitments to fund foreign aid programs, as an illegal and unconstitutional exercise of executive power, calling for orders to stop the action and warning that this step has caused “chaos in the funding and management” of foreign aid programs.
They noted that over 230 grants and contracts with the US Agency for International Development have been canceled or suspended since the executive order began in several countries around the world.
