The executive order of President Trump is freezing most of the US foreign aid for 90 days I was thrown into the turmoil Programs that fight hunger and deadly diseases, manages clinical experiences and seek to provide shelter for millions of displaced people around the world.
The pioneering agency of the government to provide humanitarian aid, the US International Development Agency, or the United States Agency for International Development, was reaching the most difficult. Mr. Trump accused the Agency for the Corruption and Fraud, without providing evidence.
The Trump administration ordered thousands of agency workers to return to the United States from abroad; Put all the direct appointments of the agency, including the list of external service employees, On the unlimited administrative leave; And change the agency to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
On Thursday, the Trump administration announced plans for The intestine of the agency’s employeesreduction Usaid The workforce of more than 10,000 to perhaps A few hundred. Friday, judge It was temporarily banned Trump management plan to close the agency, although freezing aid is still valid.
How much external aid provided by the United States?
In total, the United States spent approximately $ 72 billion on foreign assistance in 2023, which includes spending by the United States Agency for International Development, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and programs run by agencies such as the Peace Corps.
As a percentage of its economic production, the United States – which has the largest economy in the world – offers much lower foreign aid than other developed countries.
He spent the United States Agency for International Development About 38 billion dollars On health services, disaster relief, anti -poverty and other programs in the fiscal year 2023. This was less than 1 percent of the federal budget.
Who are the beneficiaries?
The freezing of Mr. Trump does not apply to US foreign aid to support weapons for countries such as Israel and Egypt, and emergency food assistance is also exempt.
In 2023, last year for which full data is available, Ukraine, which was waging a war against Russia since Moscow’s extensive invasion in February 2022, received $ 16.6 billion, and is the most American aid in any country or region. The largest part of this went to economic development, followed by humanitarian aid and security.
Israel-which was attacked by gunmen led by Hamas on October 7, 2023, received a 16-month war in Gaza-the second highest amount of American assistance: $ 3.3 billion in 2023, mainly for security.
Ethiopia, Somalia and Nigeria received more than one billion dollars each in 2023, most of them for humanitarian aid.
In Latin America, Colombia was the best recipient of American aid, $ 705 million, in 2023.
How is the money spent?
US foreign aid can be organized as direct financial assistance to countries through NGOs; Military support food and medical aid; Or technical experience.
External aid can be a form of soft power, as it serves the strategic interests of the state, strengthening allies and helping to prevent conflicts.
In the case of the American Agency for International DevelopmentThe money has gone towards humanitarian assistance, development assistance and direct budget support In UkraineBuilding peace in Somalia, monitoring diseases in Cambodia, vaccination programs in Nigeria, preventing HIV in Uganda and helping mother health in Zambia. The agency also helped contain the main Ebola outbreaks.
Unlike Mr. Trump’s claim, US money was not used to send The condom to Gaza for use by HamasHealth officials say. in statement At the end of last month, the international medical corps said that it had received more than $ 68 million from the United States Agency for International Development since October 2023 for its work in the pocket, but “funding has not been used to buy or distribute a condom.”
Instead, the group said, the money was used to operate two field hospitals, treat and diagnose malnutrition, hand over more than 5,000 children and perform 11,000 surgeries.
Why was the freezing request?
For years, conservative critics questioned the value of US foreign aid programs. The Trump administration argues that stopping external aid is necessary to study whether American funds are lost.
Foreign Minister Marco Rubio said in the answer to three simple questions. Modern statement. “Do America make more secure? Do America make stronger? Do America make more prosperous?”
On the social truth platform on Friday, Mr. Trump wrote, “Close it!” Without evidence, he confirmed that the agency was “run by radical madmen.”
Mr. Rubio, from Speak previously to support the agencyAnd he assumed the goal of the organization, Her employees cracked For “a decision to be a global charitable institution in some way separate from the national interest.”
However, he insisted that the acquisition was “not related to getting rid of external aid.” He said During a recent interview from Fox News“We have the arrangement of the rebellion” at the agency, adding that the United States Agency for International Development was “completely unaware, so we had no choice but to take exciting steps to control this thing.”
What are the effects of freezing aid?
With the spread of organizations around the world, the Trump administration has transformed the gears. Mr. Rubio announced that “life -saving humanitarian assistance” can continue, but return will be “temporary.”
But by that time, hundreds of senior officials and workers who were helping to distribute American aid were The shooting has already been launched or LeaveAnd many assistance efforts remain paralyzed.
Dozens of clinical trials were suspended in South Asia, Africa and Latin America. Freezing left people with experimental medications and medical products in their bodies, and cut them from researchers who monitor them and spread fear.
In South Africa, for example, freezing was closed with funding from the United States Agency for International Development Study silicone rings It was entered into women to prevent pregnancy and H.IV. infection.
About 2.4 million windows of Malaria, manufactured to fulfill orders funded by the United States and countries throughout sub -Saharan Africa, were stuck in the production facilities in Asia. These contracts are frozen because the contractor is from the US Agency for International Development, which was not allowed to speak to the manufacturer according to the freezing conditions.
In Uganda, a national anti -control program suspended spraying pesticides in the village homes and stopped shipments from bed networks for distribution to pregnant women and young children.
And in Syria, the executive order It threatens the United States program that supports the security forces Syrian officials and the United States said that inside a notorious camp, known as the Hall, in the Syrian desert, which carries tens of thousands of members of the Islamic State and their families.
What is the reaction to Trump Trump?
US Agency officials have been preparing to reduce their ranks since the contractors began leaving them just days after the Trump administration was suspended. But democratic lawmakers say that the moves to dismantle the agency or integrate it with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are illegal.
Niqaman, who represent employees of the United States Agency for International Development on Thursday, filed a lawsuit against Mr. Trump, Mr. Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Beesen, and the agencies they lead. He argued that the decline in employees and the cancellation of international aid contracts was unconstitutional and violated the separation of the authorities.
She sought a court order to stop the launch of the employees and dismantle the agency. He argued that the American Agency for International Development could not be non -binding without a previous congressional approval.
“What we see is an illegal attack by this agency by the Trump administration in a clear violation of the basic constitutional principles,” said Robin Thurson, the legal director of the Democracy striker, one of two organizations for the call that filed the lawsuit on behalf of this. The American Foreign Service Association and the American Union of Government Employees. He added that the administration “generated a global humanitarian crisis.”
On Friday afternoon, after a hearing, Judge Karl Nichols of the US Provincial Court of Colombia said he would issue a temporary temporary order that stops the administrative leave of 2,200 employees of the American Agency for International Development and a plan to withdraw all workers abroad within 30 days.
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