BOSTON (AP) - Holders of temporary protected status and their Massachusetts supporters are calling for the program to be extended despite efforts by the Trump administration to end it for immigrants from several countries.

Several dozen people gathered at the federal courthouse in Boston on Wednesday as an appeals court in California was weighing the future of the program.

Temporary protected status is granted to countries ravaged by natural disasters or war and lets citizens of those countries remain in the U.S. until the situation improves back home.

Several lawsuits have been filed nationwide against the administration’s bid to discontinue some protections. A judge previously ruled protections for people from Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti and El Salvador cannot be immediately ended.

Many of the Boston protesters said they feel like Americans, and that this country is now their home.

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