A federal judge has blocked United States President Joe Biden’s attempt to lift Title 42, an immigration policy put in place by Donald Trump, used to evict over a million migrants at the border.

On Friday, Judge Robert R. Summerhays of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana handed out a nationwide preliminary injunction instructing the administration to leave the law in effect until the lawsuit by 24 states, led by Arizona, Louisiana and Missouri, is decided in court.

“The court concludes that the public interest would be served by a preliminary injunction preventing the termination of the CDC’s Title 42 orders,” Mr Summerhays wrote in his 47-page decision.

Mr Summerhays noted that lifting the order would directly increase the cost of healthcare and education as states would have to handle the arrival of a large number of new migrants.  

The White House rejected the court’s decision, with the Department of Justice appealing Mr Summerhays’ decision. 

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement that the Biden administration will continue making preparations for the lift.

“As the appeal proceeds, the Department of Homeland Security will continue planning for the eventual lifting of Title 42 in light of CDC’s public health judgment, at which point anyone who attempts to enter the country unlawfully will be subject to Title 8 Expedited Removal proceedings, if they do not have grounds to remain in the United States,” Ms Jean-Pierre said.

Title 42 was established in March 2020 to control the spread of the coronavirus across the country’s border. Under the policy, the U.S. turned away migrants that arrived at its land borders without a chance to call for humanitarian protection.