Members of President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency paid a visit this weekend to the offices of the Peace Corps in Washington D.C.
There are fears DOGE will try to shut down the agency as it did with the U.S. Agency for International Development earlier this year. The Trump administration abruptly laid off thousands of USAID workers who were in jobs overseas and cut funding to many programs abroad.
One program USAID supports is the work in developing countries by our Peace Corps Volunteers.
The national Returned Peace Corps Volunteers group held a virtual town hall meeting Wednesday morning to share what they know about the DOGE visit. Caroline Mackenzie, head of the Hawaiʻi group, was on the call at 5 a.m. trying to get the latest.
She said that, so far, no Peace Corps operations have been disrupted following the DOGE visit.
She said there are 15 Hawaiʻi volunteers around the globe, and more are slated to leave in May.
"If all goes well, they will be on their way to serve overseas — I believe it's Nepal, South America, and I think Africa. But yes, we keep our fingers crossed," she told HPR.
Mackenzie said the Peace Corps volunteer community voiced concerns in the town hall meeting about Trump's budget proposal for 2026.
"They were saying the best thing that all of us can do is to contact our local congressional representatives and push to support Peace Corps. And here in Hawaiʻi, it's a blessing because all of our congressional reps really like Peace Corps," she said.
Many Hawaiʻi officials have served in the Peace Corps, including the late Rep. Gene Ward. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in North Borneo, and was later the Peace Corps country director of East Timor.
Mackenzie said that in Trump's first term, he threatened to cut the Peace Corps, but the military stepped up for the organization's defense.
"He backed off cutting the agency, and he cut our budget, and President Biden increased our budget, which is the budget we're living on right now. But we shall see what happens, and we can only hope that we get Congress, the bipartisan support in Congress to come to our rescue one more time," she said.
Mackenzie said that the Peace Corps is the "heart and soul" of volunteer work in the country.
"It's such a wonderful program. It's an education for so many people to learn about what we did, where we were. And I can't tell you enough about how wonderful the Peace Corps is, and it has to stay alive," she said.
This interview aired on The Conversation on April 9, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m.
