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A US federal judge on Friday blocked US President Donald Trump’s move to dismantle the Latin America development agency, Inter-American Foundation (IAF), ruling that the administration likely overstepped its authority when it removed the agency’s leadership and froze its grants.
US district judge Loren alikhanan appointee of US President Joe Biden, ordered that ousted IAF president and CEO Sara Aviel be reinstated immediately and blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to dissolve the agency’s operations. “Because neither President Trump nor Mr Marocco had the authority to fire her from her position… Ms. Aviel is likely to succeed on the merits of her case,” AliKhan wrote in her decision, according to the news agency Associated Press.
Established by Congress in 1969, the IAF is an independent US agency that funds grassroots development efforts to combat poverty, migration and instability in Latin America and the Caribbean. Since its inception, the agency has disbursed more than $945 million in grants across roughly three dozen countries.
Trump had signed an executive order on February 19 aiming to drastically shrink the federal government, listing the IAF among the agencies to be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law,” reported The Hill. The following day, representatives from the department of government efficiency (DOGE), led by Trump advisor Elon Musk, appeared at IAF’s offices.
Days later, the administration removed the agency’s board, fired Aviel, and installed Peter Marocco as acting board chair. Marocco, who had previously worked on dismantling the US agency for international development, later appointed himself as Aviel’s temporary replacement.
As per The Hill, the IAF was left with just one employee and one active grant.
AliKhan’s order invalidated Marocco’s role and actions, including the cancellation of nearly all IAF grants and plans to fire most of its staff. “If those terminations go into effect, those staff will never return,” Aviel’s attorneys warned, adding that the foundation’s long-standing relationships and reputation in Latin America would be “gutted,” AP reported.
Nine grantee organisations have also sued to preserve the agency, including groups that combat school violence in Peru, support rural women in Mexico, and train small-scale farmers. Several have already laid off employees or are facing closure.
The justice department argued that Trump lawfully replaced the board and that the administration’s actions were part of broader efforts to ensure government leadership aligns with the president’s goals. But judge AliKhan pushed back strongly. “That reading eviscerates the Appointments Clause,” she wrote, calling the administration’s theory of unchecked executive power “frightening,” reported The Hill.
