Demonstrators cheered and waved flags after a federal judge agreed to temporarily block the deportations of between 30,000 to 40,000 Nicaraguan nationals.

"No one will be deported," U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King said Wednesday, shortly after granting a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit filed on behalf of the Nicaraguans.The Immigration and Naturalization Service "should not be putting these people on planes and taking them out of here because once they're gone, their cases are over," King said.

The order will remain in effect for at least 10 days, at which time the judge can extend it. In the meantime, attorneys plan to request a preliminary injunction hearing.

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The ruling allows up to 40,000 of an estimated 200,000 Nicaraguans living in South Florida to pursue their attempts to gain permanent residency in the United States.

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