By Jennifer Hansler and Devan Cole

(CNN) — A pair of labor groups representing employees at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) sued President Donald Trump on Thursday over his efforts to dismantle the decades-old humanitarian agency, as multiple sources told CNN that fewer than 300 agency employees are expected to be retained while countless others are put on indefinite leave or fired.

The lawsuit also takes aim at the administration’s freeze on almost all foreign assistance – a move that has brought critical humanitarian work around the world to a halt and has led to thousands of contractors being furloughed or laid off.

It is the first lawsuit filed against the rapid succession of moves taken against USAID.

The suit was filed in federal court in Washington, DC, by Democracy Forward and Public Citizen Litigation Group on behalf of the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).

It was filed as a majority of the USAID’s workforce braces to be put on administrative leave Friday night or, in the case of most contractors, terminated.

An internal email, described by multiple sources, said that fewer than 300 people would be kept on as essential personnel – an enormous reduction in the workforce.

It’s unclear if the court will step in on an emergency basis before Friday at 11:59 p.m. ET, when USAID has said all of their direct hire personnel, excluding the exceptions, will be put on leave.

The suit against Trump, as well as his Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and their agencies, argues that the president is exceeding his authority in violation of the Constitution and federal law.

Attorneys for the labor groups are asking the court to order the administration to reverse actions it took to shutter the agency and “halt any further steps to dissolve the agency” while the litigation continues.

“Not a single one of defendants’ actions to dismantle USAID were taken pursuant to congressional authorization,” the lawsuit states. “And pursuant to federal statute, Congress is the only entity that may lawfully dismantle the agency.”

The groups say that Trump’s recent actions amount to an unlawful power grab of congressional authority.

“President Trump’s actions to dissolve USAID exceed presidential authority and usurp legislative authority conferred upon Congress by the Constitution, in violation of the separation of powers,” the lawsuit states.

“The dismantling of USAID including its Foreign Service members has thrown dedicated public servants—and their families—into chaos and uncertainty,” AFSA President Tom Yazdgerdi said in a statement Thursday.

“These professionals have spent their careers advancing America’s interests abroad, only to find their livelihoods upended overnight.”

“The consequences of this disruption go far beyond individual careers—it weakens U.S. leadership and undermines global stability worldwide. AFSA will continue to defend its members and pursue all options to protect this essential workforce,” he said.

Skye Perryman, the president and CEO of Democracy Forward, argued that “the Trump administration’s USAID is part of a coordinated campaign to undermine the will of Congress and isolate America in the world.”

Trump claimed on Monday that he doesn’t need Congress at all to scrap USAID altogether, puzzling legal experts who say that the president lacks the legal authority to unilaterally dismantle independent federal agencies like USAID.

“Not when it comes to fraud. If there’s fraud, these people are lunatics,” Trump said when asked by CNN’s Jeff Zeleny about his capacity to exact major changes to USAID. “We just want to do the right thing. It’s something that should have been done a long time ago.”

The groups zeroed in on the impact of various actions Trump has taken in recent days to dismantle the agency, including a freeze on foreign assistance and mass layoffs of USAID contractors and grantees.

“These actions have generated a global humanitarian crisis by abruptly halting the crucial work of USAID employees, grantees, and contractors. They have cost thousands of American jobs. And they have imperiled U.S. national security interests,” attorneys for the groups wrote in the lawsuit.

They went on to say that “halting USAID work has shut down efforts to prevent children from dying of malaria, stopped pharmaceutical clinical trials, and threatened a global resurgence in HIV. Deaths are inevitable. Already, 300 babies that would not have had HIV, now do. Thousands of girls and women will die from pregnancy and childbirth. Without judicial intervention, it will only get worse.”

CNN’s Alex Marquardt, Lauren Kent and Sean Lyngaas contributed reporting.

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