WASHINGTON >> U.S. Agency for International Development workers who have been fired or placed on leave as part of the Trump administration’s dismantling of the agency began paying mournful final visits to their abruptly closed Washington headquarters on Thursday, under the administration’s 15-minute windows to clear out their offices while escorted by federal officers.

Some staffers wept as they carried out grocery bags and suitcases with what was left from their life’s work. Supporters clapped and cheered outside or drove by tapping their car horns to bolster their spirits.

A woman coming back out of the building loaded down with backpacks and bags burst into tears at the cheers that greeted her. Many of a small but growing crowd of supporters outside enveloped her in hugs.

USAID has been one of the biggest targets of a broad campaign by President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency, a project of Trump adviser Elon Musk, to slash the size of the federal government. The actions at USAID leave only a small fraction of its employees on the job.

Trump and Musk have moved swiftly to shutter the foreign aid agency, calling its programs out of line with the Republican president’s agenda and asserting without evidence that its work is wasteful. In addition to its scope, their effort is extraordinary because it has not involved Congress, which authorized the agency and has provided its funding.

Federal officers were waiting outside USAID’s former headquarters as well, intercepting USAID staffers as they arrived, rolling suitcases or toting bags, to escort them inside.

David Radcliffe, who spent 30 years at the Department of Defense as an Army veteran and civil servant, was one of those showing up in support of the federal aid staffers. The message on the sign he carried: “YOU Made America Great! Thank You USAID.”

USAID’s aid and development work over the decade had represented the best of the United States to the world and distinguished the U.S. as a leader, Radcliffe said. “I’m shocked and dismayed,” he said. “It makes no sense from a policy perspective.”

While larger bureaus at the agency are urging supporters to turn up to “clap out” staffers over the next two days, a Trump administration ban on USAID staffers speaking publicly also has many fearing retaliation if they speak publicly.

Chester’s is among several nonprofits and businesses suing the Trump administration over a more than monthlong cutoff of foreign assistance funds that has shut down U.S. humanitarian and development aid around the world and its mass removals of USAID workers.

USAID placed 4,080 staffers who work across the globe on leave Monday. That was joined by a “reduction in force” that will affect another 1,600 employees, a State Department spokesman said in an emailed response to questions.

USAID has been one of the biggest targets so far of a broad campaign by President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency, a project of Trump adviser Elon Musk, to slash the size of the federal government. The actions at USAID leave only a small fraction of its employees on the job.

Trump and Musk have moved swiftly to shutter the foreign aid agency, calling its programs out of line with the Republican president’s agenda and asserting without evidence that its work is wasteful. In addition to its scope, their effort is extraordinary because it has not involved Congress, which authorized the agency and has provided its funding.

A report from the Congressional Research Service earlier this month said congressional authorization is required “to abolish, move, or consolidate USAID,” but the Republican majorities in the House and the Senate have made no pushback against the administration’s actions. There’s virtually nothing left to fund, anyway: The administration now says it is eliminating more than 90% of USAID’s foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in U.S. assistance around the world.

On Thursday, someone had left a bucket of flowers outside the building, for workers to place at the memorial wall inside to the 99 USAID workers killed in the line of duty.