Following a lawsuit filed by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, a federal judge has blocked parts of President Biden’s immigration policy that drastically tied the hands of immigration officers and coincided with a drastic decrease in the number of deportations.

The nationwide preliminary injunction issued yesterday requires the Department of Homeland Security to resume deporting dangerous convicted criminals and those whom federal immigration courts have already ordered removal from the United States.

“This is a great victory for the rule of law, border security, and public safety across the country. President Biden’s open border policies encourage illegal immigration and make it easier for the Mexican cartels to smuggle drugs into our country — drugs that eventually end up in Montana communities,” Attorney General Knudsen said. “I hope the Biden administration will abide by the court order and start following the law when it comes to deportations, particularly for illegal aliens who have prior criminal convictions.”

In federal fiscal year 2021, the number of deportations fell to only 59,011, a 68 percent decrease from the previous fiscal year, according to a report recently released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Read the full preliminary injunction order here.

Read more about Attorney General Knudsen’s lawsuit here.