A federal appeals court has decided to keep a hold on President Obama’s immigration executive actions, preventing the program from at least temporarily going into effect.

Two of three judges on a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled to uphold an injunction on Obama’s 2014 immigration actions.

Judge Andrew S. Hanen of U.S. District Court in Brownsville, Texas, had put a hold on those actions on Feb. 16, preventing the immigration initiatives from being implemented.

The Obama administration asked the appeals court to throw out the injunction issued by the lower court—wanting the immigration actions to proceed.

Obama’s actions, announced in November, would protect millions of immigrants here illegally from deportation and grant them work permits.

Many of the initiatives were scheduled to take effect this month.

The appeals court found that Texas and 25 other states—which filed a lawsuit against the immigration actions—have sufficient legal grounds to file suit. The court decided the Obama administration had not shown it would be harmed if the injunction remained in place and the programs were further delayed.

This is not the final say on Obama’s immigration actions. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit still must issue a ruling on the constitutionality of the executive actions.

“Although this is not a decision on the merits, but only on the government’s request for a stay of the District Court’s injunction while the appeal is pending, this is still a resounding defeat for the administration’s immigration amnesty program,” said Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation.

“It is a substantial victory for the states and a potential precursor of another looming defeat for the government since the three-judge panel based its decision to deny the stay on the fact that the administration is ‘unlikely to succeed on the merits of its appeal of the injunction,’ according to the court.”

Immigrant rights groups panned the court’s decision.

“Immigrant communities have waited long enough,” said Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, in a statement.

“Today’s decision allows the lower court’s legally unsound decision blocking immigration relief to stay in place, and our economy and families will suffer the consequences. We call upon the Justice Department to continue its efforts to get this injunction lifted by bringing the matter before the Supreme Court without delay.”