A federal judge in Illinois blocked the Trump administrations plan to end temporary protective status for Burmese nationals living in the U.S. The administration planned to begin deportations of the population on Monday.
Fort Wayne is home to a large number of Burmese immigrants and refugees and has been for more than 30 years.
The Department of Homeland Security chose to end deportation protections for residents from Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, citing free elections expected to happen in the country later this year.
U.S. District Court Judge Matthew F. Kennelly called the decision “arbitrary and capricious,” a legal term to mean the decision was seemingly random or by chance.
"The Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, has terminated TPS for every country that has come up as eligible", Kennelly wrote in his order.
A status hearing has been scheduled for Feb. 6.
