A federal judge in Seattle on Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order suspending the federal refugee settlement program.

The program, in place since the passage of the Refugee Act in 1980, has helped thousands of refugees escape war, natural disasters or persecution.

“The United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees,” Trump says in the order signed shortly after he took office.

Major refugee groups argued in the lawsuit that the executive order infringed on the system Congress created for allowing refugees into the U.S.

“Rather than learn from past mistakes, the Trump administration has repeated them and engaged in severely harmful and irrational conduct that flouts the rule of law,” the lawsuit reads.

The first Trump administration temporarily halted the refugee program and lowered the number of refugees who could enter each year.

Lawyers argued the order was well within Trump’s authority to deny entry to foreigners who “would be detrimental to the interest of the United States.”

The lawsuit states some refugees who had been approved to come to the U.S. had travel plans canceled on short notice and forced families to remain apart.

When Trump signed the executive order on Jan. 20, more than 10,000 refugees from around the world had already been through the lengthy vetting process to come to the U.S.

Refugees differ from people who come directly to the U.S.-Mexico border to seek asylum in that they must be living outside of the U.S. to be considered for resettlement and are usually referred to the State Department by the United Nations.

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