A federal judge on Friday ordered Virginia to reinstate more than 1,600 self-identified noncitizen voter registrations, ruling that they were illegally purged in the last two months to stop voter fraud.

U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles, a Biden appointee, granted an injunction request brought against Virginia election officials by the Biden Justice Department, which claimed the National Voter Registration Act restricts states from making large-scale changes to their voter rolls 90-days before an election.

The Virginia attorney general’s office said Friday that the state intends to appeal the ruling.

The Justice Department and private groups, including the League of Women Voters, said many of the 1,600 voters were in fact citizens whose registrations were canceled because of bureaucratic errors or simple mistakes like a mischecked box on a form.

Justice Department lawyer Sejal Jhaveri said during an all-day injunction hearing Thursday in Alexandria, Virginia, that’s precisely why federal law prevents states from implementing systematic changes to the voter rolls in the 90 days before an election, “to prevent the harm of having eligible voters removed in a period where it’s hard to remedy.”

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin released the following statement on the judge’s ruling.

“Let’s be clear about what just happened: only eleven days before a Presidential election, a federal judge ordered Virginia to reinstate over 1,500 individuals–who self-identified themselves as noncitizens–back onto the voter rolls. Almost all these individuals had previously presented immigration documents confirming their noncitizen status, a fact recently verified by federal authorities.

“This is a Virginia law passed in 2006, signed by then-Governor Tim Kaine, that mandates certain procedures to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls, with safeguards in place to affirm citizenship before removal–and the ultimate failsafe of same-day registration for U.S. citizens to cast a provisional ballot. This law has been applied in every Presidential election by Republicans and Democrats since enacted 18 years ago.

“Virginia will immediately petition the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and, if necessary, the U.S. Supreme Court, for an emergency stay of the injunction.”