The Trump administration may - for now - continue sending asylum seekers back to Mexico while their cases are being processed.

An order Tuesday by a U.S. appeals court will allow the policy to continue on a temporary basis while the plan is challenged in court.

The move comes after a lower court blocked it last month.

The judges who ruled on the case Tuesday said the Department of Homeland Security could face 'irreparable harm' if one of its enforcement tools is taken away and said that the Trump administration would likely succeed in the face of legal challenges.

The American Civil Liberties Union, one of the groups who sued over the policy, criticized the ruling saying this puts asylum seekers at risk.

The ruling is seen as a win for U.S. president Donald Trump, whose administration has grown desperate to crack down on a surge of Central American migrants coming to the U.S. Most of those arriving request asylum, saying they are fleeing violence and persecution in their home countries.

The Trump administration argues that the policy is needed because asylum seekers spend years living in the U.S. and never appear for their court hearings before their claim is denied and an immigration judge orders them to be deported.

U.S. Justice department data show the vast majority of asylum-seekers released into the U.S. do appear before a judge when their cases are called.