Judge blocks U.S. ending immigrant protections

SAN FRANCISCO — A judge Wednesday blocked the Trump administration from ending protections that allowed immigrants from four countries to live and work legally in the United States, saying the move would cause “irreparable harm and great hardship.”

U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco granted a request for a preliminary injunction against the administration’s decision to discontinue temporary protected status for people from Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti and El Salvador.

The judge said there is evidence that “President Trump harbors an animus against non-white, non-European aliens which influenced his … decision to end the TPS designation.”

The ruling cited Trump’s 2015 campaign speech in which he characterized Mexican immigrants as drug dealers and rapists, his call to bar Muslims from entering the United States and his vulgar reference to African countries during a meeting about immigration at the White House in January.

It’s the latest case in which judges have cited Trump’s own comments to rule against his immigration policies. His words have been turned against him in lawsuits over decisions to separate families at the border, end legal protections for young immigrants and ban people from some Muslimmajority countries.

Temporary protected status is granted to countries ravaged by natural disasters or war and lets citizens of those countries remain in the U.S. until the situation improves back home. About 300,000 people have received those protections.

“Beneficiaries who have lived, worked, and raised families in the United States (many for more than a decade), will be subject to removal,” Chen wrote.

Homeland Security officials said they could not comment.

The lawsuit alleges the administration’s decision was motivated by racism.