US Agency for International Development (USAID) on Tuesday laid off hundreds of workers in the wake of Trump Administration's stop-work order for foreign assistance.
A USAID official with knowledge of the layoffs put the total at 390, a NPR report said.
The official spoke to NPR on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on behalf of the agency.
The laid-off employees are all contractors based in the US, part of a workforce of some 10,000, the official noted.
"This blow to us as individuals and to the people we've served is unconscionable, but the bigger picture is much scarier," one laid-off employee told NPR. "It is a systematic dismantling of a longstanding agency in order to cause chaos. They are asking people remaining if they are loyal to Trump."
This person asked to remain anonymous fearing that any future employment could be jeopardized by speaking out, NPR added.
The USAID on Saturday suspended its funding to the Muhammed Yunus-led interim Bangladesh government after President Donald Trump suspended all foreign aid for 90 days.
However, support from the USAID to Rohingya people living in Bangladesh will continue, Bangladesh chief adviser’s press secretary Shafiqul Alam said on Sunday, according to a report in the Dhaka Tribune