On Saturday, as President Donald Trump continued carrying out his flurry of executive orders, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s website went dark.
USAID, the world’s largest donor of humanitarian aid, gives less than 1% of all the world’s foreign aid from its budget, reported CNN.
Congressional Democrats are concerned Trump will end the agency’s autonomy and absorb it into the State Department, a move they say he has no legal authority to implement.
Democrats’ concerns are warranted as Trump recently ended billions of dollars in funding for humanitarian, development and security assistance.
Trump has argued that foreign aid is wasteful and pushes liberal social agendas.
Trump’s attack on the government through executive orders has caused thousands of furloughs, layoffs, resignations and program shutdowns to go into effect.
Pulling the USAID’s website offline isn’t the Trump administration’s first run-in with websites and apps this month.
The CDC removed gender identity, sexual orientation and HIV web pages following Trump‘s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) purge.
There was also snafu with the White House‘s website recently. The contentious phrase, “Go Home” appeared after pressing the Spanish language site, which appeared incredibly insensitive in light of the mass deportation efforts for Spanish speaking individuals.
Some argued it meant to refer to the homepage–which was later updated to read “Go to Home Page,” while others said it reflects the administration’s true feelings about Latinos.
Additionally, the health department’s website promoting reproductive rights, abortion access went dark after Trump’s inauguration.
On his first day in office, Trump shut down the CBP One app that was crucial for migrants to legally enter the country.
Originally published on Latin Times
