Rubio officially kills USAID, reveals future home for foreign assistance programs

USAID will no longer send foreign assistance across the globe, with the State Department taking over any such programs that President Donald Trump’s administration wishes to continue, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Tuesday.

Rubio made the announcement in a Tuesday statement, saying USAID had for decades failed to ensure the programs it funded actually supported America’s interests. The State Department will take over foreign assistance programs beginning July 1, he said.

“Beyond creating a globe-spanning NGO industrial complex at taxpayer expense, USAID has little to show since the end of the Cold War. Development objectives have rarely been met, instability has often worsened, and anti-American sentiment has only grown,” Rubio wrote.

“This era of government-sanctioned inefficiency has officially come to an end. Under the Trump Administration, we will finally have a foreign funding mission in America that prioritizes our national interests. As of July 1st, USAID will officially cease to implement foreign assistance. Foreign assistance programs that align with administration policies—and which advance American interests—will be administered by the State Department, where they will be delivered with more accountability, strategy, and efficiency,” he continued.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced new policies surrounding visas on Wednesday. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The move comes after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) gutted USAID as part of Trump’s effort to remove waste, fraud and abuse from the federal government.

The agency came under fire for many funding choices, including allocating $1.5 million for a program that sought to “advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities” and a $70,000 program for a “DEI musical” in Ireland.

As a result, Rubio announced on March 11 that the State Department had completed a six-week review and would cancel more than 80% of USAID programs — cutting roughly 5,200 of USAID’s 6,200 programs.

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Flowers and a sign are placed outside the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, on Friday, Feb. 7, 2025 in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Democrats have blasted the Trump administration’s efforts to trim foreign aid programs, and many activists have protested the plans. Actress Charlize Theron lashed out at the administration on Monday.

“The world feels like it’s burning because it is,” Theron said at the annual Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Program Block Party, according to Variety.

“Foreign aid cuts brought HIV and AIDS programs in my home country of South Africa to an absolute standstill,” Theron said. “All of this is not just detrimental, it’s dangerous. People will lose their lives. Many have already, unfortunately, and at a frightening rate. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to see this kind of unnecessary suffering.”

Theron also criticized recent immigration raids in Los Angeles and claimed that women and LGBTQ people are also under threat of “being erased.”

Charlize Theron lashed out at President Donald Trump’s administration for cutting foreign aid. (Unique Nicole / AFP)

“Here in Los Angeles, in the U.S. and across the globe, we are moving backwards fast. Immigration policy is destroying the lives of families, not criminals. Women’s rights are becoming less and less every day, queer and trans lives are increasingly being erased, and gender-based violence is on the rise. This isn’t just policy, it’s personal. F— them,” she said.

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Theron emphasized, however, that there is hope in “standing up, organizing, protesting, voting and caring for each other, and refusing to accept that this is the new normal.” She touted her charity as an example.

Fox News’ Diana Stancy and Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report