US halt to foreign aid cripples programs worldwide

Treating HIV across dozens of nations. Stopping the forced labor of Chinese workers. Training Mexican and Colombian police in anti-narcotics enforcement.

Those are just a tiny sample of aid programs around the world operating with grant money from the U.S. government that could be permanently shut down under an executive order President Donald Trump signed last week to halt foreign aid. The sense of crisis among aid groups worldwide is surging, as U.S. officials tell groups they must obey an almost universal stop-work order issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio after Trump’s directive.

The officials say the groups must freeze nearly all programs that have received any of the $70 billion in annual aid budget approved by Congress through bipartisan negotiations. They include programs that provide medicine, shelter and clean water in dire conditions and often make the difference between life and death. Uncertain of whether they can pay salaries or get any future funding, groups worldwide said they are starting to lay off employees or furlough them. In the United States alone, tens of thousands of employees, many of whom live in the Washington area and rely on contract work with U.S. agencies, could lose their jobs. Some have been laid off.