U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday extended a public health order allowing the immediate expulsion of some migrants, a move that may ease a growing humanitarian crisis in El Paso.

Roberts’ order temporarily blocks a Nov. 15 order from a federal judge that called for an end to the policy, called Title 42, on Wednesday. The court stay is in effect while the Supreme Court considers an appeal by Texas and other states to continue a public health policy that has become a de facto immigration control policy.

It’s not clear how long the Supreme Court may take to decide the future of Title 42. Roberts’ order gave the Biden administration until 5 p.m. EST Tuesday to file a response to the states’ application to continue Title 42.

Thousands of migrants have crossed into El Paso in recent weeks, and those numbers were expected to grow beginning Wednesday with the end of Title 42.

Even with the continuation of Title 42, the number of crossings into El Paso may continue to be high. Many of the people crossing in recent weeks have been from Nicaragua and other countries that are ineligible for Title 42 because their home countries and Mexico will not accept them if they are expelled by the United States.