Twenty-one protesters, including HIV/AIDS activists and fired federal workers, were arrested at the Cannon House Office Building in Washington on Wednesday after they staged a “die-in” protesting cuts to foreign aid for HIV/AIDS relief.

The groups ACT UP NY, Health GAP [Global Access Project], Housing Works, and the Treatment Action Group organized the demonstration.

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About 30 activists began chanting and blowing whistles in the marble-lined lobby while wearing t-shirts and holding signs that read, “Save USAID, Save Lives” and “U.S. Congress Kills People With AIDS Worldwide.” Several formed a circle on the marble floor, lying prone and holding hands.

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As the Trump administration dismantles USAID — the primary source of U.S. foreign assistance for food, health and development programs abroad — HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs around the world have been thrown into turmoil.

Funds for President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) were frozen in the first round of cuts gutting the semi-autonomous agency, then officially released.

But programs receiving the funding have been cut off from communication with their former and now-fired partners at USAID and other agencies administering the aid. The chaos has put a halt to treatment and prevention efforts for groups dependent on the funding.

Late Wednesday, the Supreme Court handed the Trump administration a temporary victory saying it did not need to pay for more the $1.5 billion in USAID work already completed, pending further review of a challenge to the administration welching on the payments.

The same day, the administration said it was ending more than 10,000 USAID and State Department contracts and grants. A former senior USAID official told The New York Times the cuts so far account for approximately 90% of the agency’s work and tens of billions of dollars in spending.

PEPFAR provides medication to 20 million people worldwide.

“This is not controversial, and what is happening is not government efficiency, it’s government fraud, waste and abuse when it comes to what DOGE is doing,” Van Credle, a fired USAID contractor who was at the protest told the Guardian.

DOGE, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency headed by the world’s richest man Elon Musk, immediately froze U.S. humanitarian funds as his first move to decimate federal agencies. Democrats have called DOGE’s work illegal and unconstitutional since it violates funding laws passed by Congress, overstepping executive authority allowed by the Constitution.

“It’s very hard to overstate what’s at stake regarding humanitarian assistance,” said Asia Russell, Health Gap’s executive director. “What we are demanding of Congress is that they stop behaving like doormats in the face of this attack on humanitarian assistance that truly is highly effective and life-saving.”

Over the weekend, a spokesperson for the last remnants of USAID announced the agency was placing all but a small number of its employees worldwide on leave. Workers remaining in Washington have been told to clear their belongings from the agency’s former headquarters, which will be turned into office space housing U.S. Customs and Border Protection, one of the agencies implementing Trump’s immigration sweep.

Black tape now covers USAID’s name on a sign outside the building.

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