The Trump administration fired three workers at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on Friday as they were in Myanmar to assess damage from the earthquake and to report back on ways the U.S. could help, according to The New York Times, which cited three people with knowledge of the firings.
The three aid workers received termination emails sent specifically to them on Friday, just days after arriving to the country, the Times reported. The workers were in the city of Mandalay, which has been buried in rubble, when they received the email.
The Times reported that USAID employees learned of the firings during a meeting Friday of its Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, which, according to the news outlet, sent an email to employees later Friday evening saying the situation “continued to be challenging and uncertain.”
The reported firings come as the Trump administration plans to fully eliminate the USAID agency and absorb its function within the State Department.
On March 28, the agency notified its remaining employees that they would be terminated either on July 1, when all remaining USAID functions are set to be merged with State, or before Sept. 2, when the agency’s operations will have been substantially wound down or transferred to State. The second group of USAID employees would be responsible for “winding down” the agency.
The Times reported that the three fired employees in Myanmar will most likely have to leave their jobs by one of those two deadlines, just like other USAID employees currently being fired, but reported that “it is unclear what they will now do in Myanmar.”
The Trump administration has characterized USAID as an agency rife with fraud and worked to quickly dismantle it in his first few weeks in office. Thousands of employees have already been fired or placed on indefinite administrative leave.
In an email sent to the Times, the State Department said it does not comment on the employment status of specific employees or contractors.
The Hill has reached out to the State Department.
