Activists arrested at die-in when protesting loss of global HIV funding

More than 30 HIV activists and fired foreign aid workers held a “die-in” Wednesday in the rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building in Washington, D.C., to protest the Trump administration’s cuts to this aid, including lifesaving drugs, and 21 were arrested.

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Those who were arrested “began chanting and blowing whistles while holding signs, ‘Save USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development), Save Lives’ and ‘US Congress Kills People With AIDS Worldwide,’” the Washington Blade reports.

The building is home to U.S. representatives from both parties. “What we are demanding of Congress is that they stop behaving like doormats in the face of this attack on humanitarian assistance that truly is highly effective and lifesaving,” Asia Russell, executive director of Health Gap, a global HIV group, said before the protest, according to The Guardian.

“This demonstration marked the one month anniversary of President Trump’s controversial stop-work order that froze humanitarian assistance, an action activists described as both deadly and illegal,” Housing Works added in a statement.

The demonstration was organized by Health GAP, ACT UP NY, Housing Works, and the Treatment Action Group

Donald Trump’s administration, aided by Elon Musk, has dismantled USAID, which handles foreign aid programs, including those that fight HIV and other diseases. A federal judge ordered the restoration of USAID’s funding with a deadline last Wednesday, but the administration has appealed to the Supreme Court, which paused the judge’s order pending further review. Aid groups filed a brief with the high court Friday saying there would be “extraordinary and irreversible harm” if the funding is not restored quickly.

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The closing of USAID has also stopped payments to health care providers working with the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief, a.k.a. PEPFAR, which was started by Republican President George W. Bush and was praised by Trump in his first term. The administration had said earlier that PEPFAR, which provides HIV drugs and related services to poor countries around the world, would be exempt from any funding freeze.

Protesters stage a die-in inside the rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building as part of a protest against cuts to foreign aid, in Washington, D.C., on February 26, 2025.Anadolu/Getty Images

Funding for foreign aid “is not controversial, and what is happening is not government efficiency, it’s government fraud, waste, and abuse when it comes to what DOGE is doing,” fired USAID contractor Van Credle said at the protest, according to The Guardian, referring to the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, headed by Musk, which has imposed huge cuts on many federal agencies, even though their funding was approved by Congress.

“So much of our work at USAID is mandated by Congress, and so for Congress to not be taking action, for Congress to be holding hearings that are pushing out lies and falsehoods about USAID to say that the waivers are back when we know that they’re actually not turned on and the money’s not actually flowing, it’s incredibly disappointing,” added Kelsey Crow, a former USAID contractor, as reported by The Guardian.

The 21 who were arrested had failed to disperse when ordered to do so by Capitol Police. “It is against the law to protest inside the Congressional buildings, so just after 11:30 a.m., approximately 21 people were arrested in the Cannon Rotunda for 22-1307 Crowding, Obstructing, and Incommoding.” Capitol Police said in a statement to the Blade.