A federal appeals court has blocked the Trump administration from ending protections from deportation for some 600,000 Venezuelans living in the U.S.

The decision from a three-judge panel for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reinstalls Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans in the U.S., which were lifted by the Supreme Court despite a lower court ruling determining the Trump administration unlawfully axed the protection.

Former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas redesignated TPS for Venezuela shortly before leaving office, pointing to the “complex, serious and multidimensional humanitarian crisis” in the country.

Days after taking office, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem purported to vacate that decision, saying she would not allow the Biden administration “to tie our hands.”

The appeals court sided with TPS holders in determining Noem did not have the power to vacate their protections.

“We hold that Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on their claim that the vacatur of a prior extension of TPS is not permitted by the governing statutory framework. In enacting the TPS statute, Congress designed a system of temporary status that was predictable, dependable, and insulated from electoral politics,” the panel wrote.

“A reading of the statute that allows for vacatur would render these terms—and Congress’s design—meaningless,” the court said, adding that TPS holders “have demonstrated that they face irreparable harm to their lives, families, and livelihood” if their protections are stripped.

A lower court judge previously blocked Noem’s vacatur from taking effect in April, writing that her decision “smacks of racism” after it made a series of demeaning comments about Venezuelans. 

TPS can be awarded to those from countries where natural disasters or civil unrest make it too dangerous to facilitate deportations.

The ruling noted the Biden administration started TPS for the country as Venezuela “experienced the worst humanitarian crisis in the Western Hemisphere in recent memory.” Millions have fled the country amid political instability and food shortages.

The panel found that Venezuelan TPS holders were likely to ultimately win the case, primarily because Noem doesn’t have the power to “vacate” the protections, and terminating them involves going through a lengthier process in which DHS must document how conditions in the home country have improved.

“The panel held that Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of their claim that the Secretary lacked authority to vacate a prior extension of TPS. The panel explained that agencies lack the authority to undo their actions where, as here, Congress has spoken and said otherwise,” they wrote.

At another point, they dismissed a Trump administration argument as being factually incorrect in asserting Mayorkas’s extension had not yet taken effect.

“The Government argues that the TPS statute’s limitations did not prevent vacatur here because Secretary Mayorkas’s extension of TPS had not yet taken effect. This is factually incorrect,” they wrote.

California-based U.S. District Judge Edward Chen determined in April the government did not follow proper procedure for stripping TPS, and that the administration was “motivated at least in part by animus.”

“As discussed in other parts of this order, the Secretary’s rationale is entirely lacking in evidentiary support. For example, there is no evidence that Venezuelan TPS holders are members of the [Tren de Aragua]  gang, have connections to the gang, and/or commit crimes,” Chen wrote, noting that “Venezuelan TPS holders have lower rates of criminality than the general population and have higher education rates than the broader U.S. population. 

“Generalization of criminality to the Venezuelan TPS population as a whole is baseless and smacks of racism predicated on generalized false stereotypes.”