A federal judge in San Francisco on Monday stopped the Trump administration from revoking deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, days before their ability to remain and work in the U.

Venezuelan migrants were slated to lose their government-issued work permits and deportation protections next week, on April 7.

A U.S. judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration from stripping deportation protections for some Venezuelan immigrants, writing that officials' characterization of the migrants as criminals "smacks of racism.