WASHINGTON (TNND) — A federal judge ruled against the Trump administration on Thursday and extended the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 60,000 citizens from Nepal, Nicaragua and Honduras.

U.S. District Judge Trina L. Thompson in San Francisco agreed that the plaintiffs had shown sufficient evidence of racial animus behind the decision and that the administration had ended the protections without an "objective review of the country conditions."

“The freedom to live fearlessly, the opportunity of liberty, and the American dream. That is all Plaintiffs seek. Instead, they are told to atone for their race, leave because of their names, and purify their blood,” Thompson said. "The Court disagrees."

She added that if protections were not extended, immigrants could suffer from loss of employment, health insurance, be separated from family, and risk being deported to other countries where they have no ties.

The National TPS Alliance and seven individual plaintiffs filed the lawsuit on July 7, alleging the terminations violate the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by disregarding country conditions and instead relying on a predetermined political decision to dismantle the TPS program.

The Trump administration has already terminated protections for about 350,000 Venezuelans, 500,000 Haitians, more than 160,000 Ukrainians and thousands of people from Afghanistan and Cameroon. Some have pending lawsuits in federal courts.

The government argued that Noem has clear authority over the program and that her decisions reflect the administration’s objectives in the areas of immigration and foreign policy.

“It is not meant to be permanent,” Justice Department attorney William Weiland said.

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Editor's note: The Associated Press contributed to this article.