A federal judge handed President Donald Trump's administration another loss in the administration's bid to revoke temporary protected status for thousands of refugees, according to a new report.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla in Manhattan said in a ruling on Wednesday that Trump's plan to strip nearly 6,100 Syrian refugees of their temporary protected status was "likely unlawful," according to a report by Newsweek. The ruling comes at a time when the administration is seeking to remove as many refugees and immigrants from the country as possible.
The administration can appeal the ruling, although no paperwork has been filed yet.
In September, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that protected status for Syrian refugees would end on Sept. 30. That move was swiftly challenged by rights groups who said ending their protected status was "arbitrary."
TPS allows people who are fleeing wars, natural disasters, and other catastrophes to live in the United States without fear of deportation.
Democrats and advocates have argued that TPS is necessary to prevent people from being forcibly returned to dangerous or life-threatening conditions.