A federal judge on Friday blocked Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem from ending temporary legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and Haitians.

U.S. District Judge Edward Chen ruled that Noem’s efforts to revoke the Biden administration’s extensions of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) were arbitrary and capricious and exceeded her authority, so they must be set aside.

“The Secretary’s action in revoking TPS was not only unprecedented in the manner and speed in which it was taken but also violates the law,” Chen wrote in his 69-page opinion.

Chen is an appointee of former President Obama who serves in San Francisco.

The TPS program provides temporary status to migrants who cannot safely return to their home countries due to extraordinary conditions like armed

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