Update at 4 p.m. on 4/25/2018:

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions reversed a decision to suspend a free legal assistance program for detained immigrants and will now resume funding pending its review. Sessions made the announcement on the program at a hearing before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that funds the Justice Department.

"...out of deference to the committee, I have ordered there be no pause while that review is conducted," said Sessions, according to his written statement.

The move was quickly applauded by legal groups, including the American Bar Association and the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Update at 4:55 p.m.: This story now includes statement by Catholic Charities of Dallas CEO.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has suspended a free legal assistance program for detained immigrants who need basic advice as their cases wind their way through court.

Outcry was swift Wednesday after The Washington Post first reported the news, saying that the legal orientation sessions for about 53,000 immigrants would be halted this month. The government wants to "conduct efficiency reviews which have not taken place in six years" before resuming the program, The Post reported.

In North Texas, the program run at Prairieland Detention Center by the Catholic Charities of Dallas through a contract with the New York-based Vera Institute will be affected. The Vera Institute had received its funding through the Justice Department, which runs the nation's immigration courts in Dallas and about 60 other cities.

"Every day this program is not in operation puts family unity at risk, harms our communities, and infringes on the right of all people to make informed decisions about their legal claims," the Vera Institute said in a statement Wednesday. It said the program was cost-efficient and helped curb the record backlog of nearly 700,000 cases in the nation's immigration courts.

They also called the program a "lifeline for many immigrants, refugees, asylum-seekers, and green-card holders —some who are fighting for their lives — who would otherwise not know the rights they have or the odds they face."

Dave Woodyard, the CEO of Catholic Charities of Dallas, said the decision was disappointing. "Our experience with various judges hearing these cases is that they appreciate the detainees coming to court prepared vs. not," Woodyard said. "We also believe this 'pre-work' saves the court system and beyond both time and money."

The American Bar Association in a written statement said it was “deeply disturbed that the Department of Justice has arbitrarily decided to abruptly suspend funding for programs that provide critical legal information and assistance to adults held in immigration detention centers around the country.

“The Legal Orientation Program, whose funding will end April 30, has a track record of effectively saving the government millions of dollars in immigration court and detention costs while providing due process and dignity to individuals involved in the immigration court system.”

The ABA is also directly impacted. Since 2003, it has provided legal orientation though the same program to immigrant detainees at the Port Isabel Detention Center near the border.

Such programs detail the immigrants’ rights to an interpreter, the right to present evidence in their cases and the right to appeal.

Sessions' other recent actions affecting the immigration courts include calling for case quotas for the nation's immigration judges and calling for curbs on the number of continuances that should be granted to an immigrant in immigration courts.

The immigration courts aren't an independent body within the judiciary branch but are part of the Department of Justice. In Texas, the backlog now means a case, on average, takes nearly 900 days to resolve.

Immigrants are usually charged civilly but they can be charged with a criminal misdemeanor for unlawful entry in the federal criminal courts. Sessions has also called for an increase in such prosecutions at the border.