Hundreds protest outside USAID headquarters amid plan to shutter the agency

WASHINGTON DC - Hundreds of people protested outside the USAID headquarters in Washington DC on Monday. They denounced President Donald Trump's apparent plan to shutter the agency.

Trump aide and tech billionaire Elon Musk has said that the US president has ordered to shut down the decades-old agency. 

Among the protesters was Senators Chris Van Hollen and Brian Schatz who said they will battle the closure in the federal court.

Workers of the aid agency were locked out of their headquarters for the second consecutive day since Monday.

Congressman Don Beyer told Rudaw that they were trying to get judges to stop attempts to shut down USAID, hoping that Trump "won't ignore what judges say in America."

In addition to the headquarters' entrance being shuttered, the computer servers were also taken over, the website went offline, and paychecks were halted for some contractors.

Established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, USAID has provided humanitarian aid worth billions of dollars worldwide. 
 
Trump is reportedly planning to move the independent agency under the State Department. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced that he is acting administrator of the agency.