A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from sharply curtailing a special immigration status that protects 600,000 Venezuelans living in the U.S. from deportation and allows them to work legally in this country.

The administration is trying to strip the legal protections, known as “temporary protected status,” from 350,000 Venezuelan nationals on April 7 — a change that could allow the government to deport many of them to a country that is in the throes of a humanitarian crisis.

The administration also wants to accelerate the expiration of the so-called TPS protections for an additional group of 250,000 Venezuelans.

But U.S. District Judge Edward Chen ruled Monday that Biden-era extensions of those protections must remain in place for now.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision to curtail the protections was an unprecedented, legally flawed move that appeared to be rooted in racial discrimination by both Noem and President Donald Trump, Chen wrote in a 78-page decision.“The Secretary made sweeping negative generalizations about Venezuelan TPS beneficiaries,” wrote Chen, a San Francisco-based appointee of President Barack Obama.

“Acting on the basis of a negative group stereotype and generalizing such stereotype to the entire group is the classic example of racism,” he continued.

Temporary protected status is a designation under federal immigration laws that makes a wide variety of immigrants eligible to remain in the U.S. legally when their home country is undergoing a humanitarian crisis, war or natural disaster.

The designations have sometimes been extended for decades, prompting criticism from immigration opponents that they’ve been stretched beyond their intended purpose of temporary relief.

The TPS designation can protect people who entered the U.S. legally as well as some who entered illegally.