The U.S. Institute for Peace (USIP) is asking a court docket to dam the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) from dismantling the company, saying it skilled a “literal trespass and takeover by force” by its personnel.
“On March 17, 2025, the attacks culminated in the literal trespass and takeover by force by Defendants, including representatives of DOGE, of the Institute’s headquarters building on Constitution Avenue. Once physically inside the Institute’s headquarters, DOGE personnel and other representatives of Defendants have plundered the offices in an effort to access and gain control of the Institute’s infrastructure, including sensitive computer systems,” the institute wrote in its court docket submitting.
The institute has requested for a short lived restraining order to “stop Defendants from completing the unlawful dismantling of the Institute and irreparably impairing Plaintiffs’ ability to perform their vital peace promotion and conflict resolution work as tasked by Congress.”
Pictures included with the submitting present pictures of the workplace after DOGE’s arrival, with the institute’s monetary paperwork positioned in a bin labeled “shred.” One other confirmed a group of letters mendacity on the bottom after the advisory board’s employees apparently ripped down a USIP brand from the wall.
One other court docket submitting contains an affidavit from USIP’s chief safety officer, describing a scene wherein police facilitated the entry of DOGE employees into the institute’s headquarters. On each Friday and Monday, the group’s employees arrived at headquarters alongside FBI brokers.
At one level Monday, the agency’s prior non-public safety agency — whose contract was ended after it coordinated with DOGE — additionally appeared on the constructing, at one level “proceed[ing] to walk toward the Institute’s gun safe,” pushing USIP employees to ignite its lockdown coverage.
The go well with mentioned DOGE officers “plundered the offices in an effort to access and gain control of the Institute’s infrastructure, including sensitive computer systems.”
The institute was one among a number of small businesses focused by President Trump in a Feb. 19 order directing that they “reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law.”
The Inter-American Basis, which works on points throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, and the U.S. African Growth Basis, which had been likewise talked about within the government order, have additionally sued.
The Justice Division’s Workplace of Authorized Counsel argued Trump had the proper besides board members from the board of each foundations, however the memo didn’t contact on USIP.
However the institute argues its construction is barely completely different from different businesses infiltrated by DOGE, describing itself as an “independent nonprofit corporation.” It was established in 1984 to “help resolve and prevent violent conflicts.”
“That Order incorrectly labeled the Institute a ‘governmental entit[y]’ that was part of the ‘Federal bureaucracy,’” the lawsuit says.
And whereas its board is nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, the go well with says its members can solely be eliminated for “conviction of a felony, malfeasance in office, persistent neglect of duties, or inability to discharge duties.”
The go well with says the Trump administration violated the separation of powers specified by the Structure in addition to the act creating the USIP.
A choose ordered a 2 p.m. EDT listening to on their emergency movement.
