A federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to fire hundreds of employees working for the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM).

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth blocked Acting USAGM CEO Kari Lake’s plan to lay off 532 employees while litigation over the case proceeds. Most of the employees who were set to be terminated on September 30 worked for Voice of America, a taxpayer-funded international media outlet that Lake has described as “rotten to the core” and “anti-American.” 

“The Reduction in Force announced by Defendant Lake on or about August 29, 2025, is SUSPENDED and may NOT be implemented, effectuated, or completed in any way,” Lamberth wrote. 

Lake said that the firings were necessary to “help reduce the federal bureaucracy, improve agency service, and save the American people more of their hard-earned money.”

USAGM operates other networks, such as Radio Free Europe and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks. 

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Lamberth said that the Trump administration did not defend the firings on their merits.

“Rather than providing a rationale for the [reduction in force] on its merits, the defendants instead offer an array of other reasons not to grant relief. But even a cursory examination of the relevant law and key facts reveal these objections are all bark and no bite,” he wrote. 

The judge stated that a recent Supreme Court ruling, which allowed the Trump administration to fire hundreds of Department of Education employees, did not apply to this case. He also said that Lake had ignored previous directives from the court. 

“The Court must offer an observation on the concerning disrespect the defendants have shown toward the Court’s orders since the entry of the preliminary injunction. It is the Court’s view that the defendants’ disregard for its earlier orders to produce information would more than support a trial on civil contempt,” he wrote. 

In a statement to the Washington Post, Lake said that she has “seen a huge ‘disrespect’ from the district courts toward the Executive Branch and the American people who have voted overwhelmingly to support President Donald J. Trump.”

In March, Trump signed an executive order that directed the USAGM to be “eliminated to the maximum extent possible consistent with federal law.”

The Trump administration has argued that agency-run outlets like Voice of America have become increasingly partisan and pushed radical leftist ideologies. In a fact sheet, the White House pointed to reports on transgender-identifying migrants wanting asylum in the United States and “white privilege.”

The illegal immigrant superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools in Iowa claimed to have six children with five different mothers on an immigration application, three of whom were born within a year of each other, sources told The Daily Wire.

Ian Andre Roberts of Guyana, who had a deportation order from May 2024, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Friday, according to the agency.

Roberts previously tried to apply for immigration status after overstaying his student visa, which was issued in 1999, according to sources. The application, which listed his children and lovers, was later denied, according to sources.

Two of his children are 11 years old, while the others are 12, 18, 22 and 30, sources said, citing his immigration paperwork. The oldest child was born in Guyana, while the five others were born in the United States.

Following the arrest, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations St. Paul Field Office Director Sam Olson questioned how Roberts was hired, given his lack of immigration status.

“This should be a wake-up call for our communities to the great work that our officers are doing every day to remove public safety threats. How this illegal alien was hired without work authorization, a final order of removal, and a prior weapons charge is beyond comprehension and should alarm the parents of that school district,” Olson said.

Roberts also had weapons charges from Feb. 5, 2020, according to ICE.

NEW: ICE just arrested the superintendent of Des Moines public schools, who turns out is a criminal illegal immigrant from Guyana with a deportation order.

Ian Andre Roberts was found with a loaded handgun, $3,000 in cash and a fixed blade hunting knife after trying to run from… pic.twitter.com/typVZ7x4jU

— Jennie Taer 🎗️ (@JennieSTaer) September 26, 2025

The law firm assisting Roberts with his case did not immediately respond to The Daily Wire’s request for comment.

When he was initially approached by the ICE officers, Roberts fled in his vehicle, later found abandoned in the nearby woods, according to ICE. The officers eventually tracked him down with the help of the state police.

At the time of the arrest, officers found that Roberts was carrying a loaded handgun, $3,000 in cash, and a fixed-blade hunting knife, according to ICE.

The feds are investigating how Roberts was able to obtain a firearm since illegal immigrants are barred from such activity.

Since the ICE arrest, the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners has revoked Roberts’s superintendent license, according to the board’s website. Roberts was also placed on administrative leave over the weekend.

A background check was conducted by a third party before Roberts was hired, and Roberts completed an I-9 employment eligibility verification form, Des Moines Public Schools Communications Director Phil Roeder told Iowa Public Radio.