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“The irreparable harm to the plaintiffs is obvious and overwhelming – tomorrow morning they will be evicted and homeless since by definition each plaintiff’s home was rendered uninhabitable by the hurricane in Puerto Rico,” Sorokin wrote in his ruling.

The judge’s decision was in response to a lawsuit filed Saturday by the civil rights group LatinoJustice PRLDEF to block the federal agency’s actions.

“There is no question that FEMA’s response to Puerto Ricans after Hurricane Maria has been woefully inadequate and unlike responses to other natural disasters experienced in the U.S.,” said Kira Romero-Craft, managing attorney over LatinoJustice’s Southeast office, in a statement.

The complaint accuses FEMA of “arbitrarily, capriciously and unlawfully” deciding to cut off aid to the Transitional Shelter Assistance program (TSA) for Puerto Rican evacuees on June 30. For months, the program has provided hotel vouchers for evacuated families who fled the catastrophic damage left on the island by the September hurricane.

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