The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has temporarily allowed the Trump administration to move forward with ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for thousands of migrants from Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal. The ruling, issued Wednesday, halts a lower court order that had kept the protections in place.

The decision paves the way for the removal of about 7,000 Nepali migrants whose TPS expired on August 5. In addition, the legal status of 51,000 Hondurans and 3,000 Nicaraguans is set to end on September 8, making them eligible for deportation.

Immigrant rights advocates argue the administration acted unlawfully in terminating TPS, which allows individuals from countries facing natural disasters or conflict to live and work in the US. A district judge had earlier blocked the move until November, citing “irreparable harm” to migrants and potential economic and social disruption.

The appeals court did not provide reasons for its emergency stay. Ahilan Arulanantham of UCLA’s Center for Immigration Law and Policy criticized the ruling, saying it lacked due process.

The Trump administration has pushed to roll back TPS protections as part of its broader effort to expand mass deportations.