A second federal judge has blocked the Department of Homeland Security from forcing tens of thousands of Haitians to return to their native country.

U.S. District Judge William F. Kuntz in Brooklyn issued a nationwide injunction Thursday preventing the department from terminating Temporary Protected Status for Haitians.

A federal judge in California had already temporarily blocked the decision to end the status for Haiti, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Sudan. Thursday's ruling applies only to Haiti.

Kuntz ruled on a lawsuit filed by Haitians in Florida and New York that challenged the Trump administration's decision to end the status granted to Haiti after its 2010 earthquake.

Kuntz said evidence showed the policy change was motivated by "a discriminatory purpose of removing non-white immigrants to the country."