The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Monday ruled that the Trump administration can end aid protections for more than 300,000 immigrants from Haiti, Sudan, Nicaragua and El Salvador.

The aid protections, called Temporary Protected Status (TPS), allowed people who would face extreme hardship if forced to return to countries plagued by armed conflict or natural disasters, to live and work in the US.

The court held that plaintiffs failed to adequately establish a likelihood of success on their Equal Protection claim. The court concluded that “there is still no evidentiary support for the conclusion that this overarching goal was motivated by racial animus.”

The case was first brought before the US District Court for the Northern District of California in early October 2018 after the Trump administration sought to terminate TPS status for immigrants from Haiti, Sudan, Nicaragua and El Salvador. The plaintiffs sought a preliminary injunction on the termination order.

“The balance of hardships thus tips sharply in favor of TPS beneficiaries and their families,” the District Court held.

If the appeals court’s decision is upheld, TPS holders will have until January 2021 to obtain another legal status to live and work in the US.