WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has instructed the Trump administration to temporarily suspend a freeze on funding that has halted U.S. humanitarian assistance and development initiatives globally. The judge established a five-day timeframe for the administration to demonstrate compliance.

The ruling, issued late Thursday, highlighted the significant financial repercussions that the abrupt cessation of funds has inflicted on suppliers and nonprofits responsible for implementing U.S. aid programs worldwide.

This decision marks the first challenge against the Republican administration’s funding freeze and emerges amid a wave of lawsuits from groups representing government employees, aid organizations, and suppliers urging courts to reverse the administration’s rapid dismantling of USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) and U.S. foreign assistance at large.

Both Trump and his advisor Elon Musk assert that the decades-old aid agency and a majority of foreign assistance do not align with the Republican president’s policy goals.

In his ruling, Judge Amir H. Ali remarked that the administration’s officials failed to present a valid rationale for imposing a blanket suspension of all congressionally approved foreign aid, which has triggered widespread disruption among contracts with countless nonprofit organizations, businesses, and more, calling into question the reasoning behind such an action as a precursor to program reviews.

Contractors, farmers, and suppliers in both the U.S. and abroad report that the Trump administration’s funding freeze has left them waiting on payments totaling hundreds of millions for completed work, leading to staff layoffs and pushing many towards imminent financial distress.

Farmers and other suppliers have described the dire situation of unshipped food aid decaying in ports, with additional assistance at risk of theft.

The judge has mandated the administration to inform every entity with an existing foreign aid contract about this temporary suspension. The administration has until Tuesday to provide proof of this notification and overall compliance with the order.

There has been no immediate public reply from the Trump administration following this directive.

The temporary ruling arose from a lawsuit initiated by the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and the Global Health Council, which represent health organizations reliant on U.S. funding for international operations.

The judge noted that the Trump administration had claimed the need to halt funding for various USAID projects as part of a comprehensive review to determine the necessity of each program.

However, the administration’s legal team failed to convincingly demonstrate a “reasonable justification for overlooking … the numerous small and large enterprises that would be forced to close operations or cease their business entirely,” the judge stated.

The ruling additionally prohibits Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other officials from implementing stop-work orders that the Trump administration and Musk have issued to companies and organizations managing foreign aid contracts.

The judge also dismissed the administration’s assertion that it was mitigating the effects of the funding freeze by granting waivers to allow some funding to continue flowing to select aid partners. He referenced testimonies indicating that no such waiver system had been established and revealed that the USAID’s online payment platform was non-operational.

In a separate ruling on Thursday, another judge affirmed that a temporary injunction against a Trump administration directive to significantly reduce USAID staff globally would remain effective for at least another week.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols pressed the government regarding the measures in place to ensure the safety of aid personnel stationed abroad amidst the administration’s scaling back of USAID. When a Justice Department lawyer could not present comprehensive plans, the judge requested further court documentation post-hearing.

Affidavits filed in the lawsuit by USAID staffers, who were recently assigned in Congo, detailed their accounts of the agency nearly abandoning them amidst looting and political unrest in the capital last month, forcing their evacuation along with family members.