An official at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)has ordered employees to shred a large volume of records, according to a court filing on Tuesday by government employee unions asking a judge to block the move.

In a motion filed in Washington, D.C., federal court, the unions cited an email from USAID's acting executive secretary Erica Carr instructing employees to come to the agency's office on Tuesday for "clearing classified safes and personnel documents."

"Shred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break," Carr wrote in the email, which was included in the filing. The email did not give details about what documents were to be shredded.

The unions said the directive "suggests a rapid destruction of agency records on a large scale" that both violates federal record-keeping law and could destroy evidence in their case, which seeks to undo the dismantling of USAID under President Donald Trump.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly on X called reports of the shredding "fake news hysteria" and wrote that the documents were "old, mostly courtesy content (content from other agencies), and the originals still exist on classified computer systems."

Kelly also wrote that the USAID building would soon be occupied by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The lawsuit was brought by the American Federation of Government Employees and American Foreign Service Association, which represent government employees, as well as by the anti-poverty organisation Oxfam America.

They allege that Trump overstepped his authority in largely shuttering an independent agency established by Congress by firing or putting on leave its employees and cancelling its agreements with third-party partners.

The plaintiffs on Tuesday asked U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols for a temporary restraining order blocking the destruction of records.

They said that if they eventually prevail in the case, the loss of vital personnel or other records could prevent USAID from resuming its operations.

In response to Tuesday's motion, the judge ordered both sides to submit a status report by Wednesday morning proposing a schedule for briefs on the motion and noting any disagreements between them.

Nichols, a Trump appointee, last month allowed the administration to go forward with its plan to put more than 2,000 USAID employees on leave. Under Trump, the foreign aid agency has scrapped more than 80% of its programs and fired much of its staff.

In a separate lawsuit brought by USAID contractors and grant recipients, a federal judge on Monday ruled that the Trump administration cannot refuse to spend foreign aid money appropriated by Congress, although the judge stopped short of restoring canceled contracts.

In that case, the Trump administration has repeatedly resisted complying with court orders to release frozen funds.