The Trump administration has fired back at a federal judge in San Francisco who stopped it from revoking deportation protections this month for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in Florida and other states, saying the judge has no authority to block the decision and that it should be addressed on an emergency basis by a higher appeals court.

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.

Judge Edward M. Chen's ruling took aim at the Trump administration's claim that immigrants with Temporary Protected Status are a drain on the U.S.