Employees at the U.S. Agency for International Development are asking a federal judge on Thursday to keep blocking an effort by President Donald Trump's administration meant to pull all but a fraction of worldwide staffers off the job.

The judge handed the administration a setback last week by temporarily halting the plans that would have put thousands of workers on leave and given those abroad only 30 days to return to the United States at government expense. His order was set to expire by the end of Thursday.

Two labor unions representing USAID employees sued the Trump administration last week, saying the sudden halt to funding not only upended overseas aid programs but the employees’ personal lives in various countries.