A federal judge ruled Friday that a computer glitch may have stymied some Venezuelans’ attempts to re-register online for a Biden-era deportation amnesty just ahead of the deadline, and he ordered Homeland Security to give them another 24 hours to do so.

Judge Edward Chen, an Obama appointee to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, previously ruled against the Trump administration’s attempt to wind down Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans. In his new ruling, he said the government was illegally delaying compliance.

Justice Department lawyers argued that the law allowed for an automatic stay of the ruling to give the government a chance to get things in order — and pursue an appeal.

Judge Chen disagreed.

“Contrary to what the government argues, the final judgment setting aside agency action went into immediate effect,” he ruled.

Immigration advocates said the administration’s delay in complying had sown confusion among immigrants who were hoping to take advantage of TPS, which grants a stay of deportation and lets migrants get work permits.

Immigration groups pointed to one woman, whose name they gave as Noelia. She said she lost her job at Amazon because the government’s website said TPS for Venezuelans had expired.

She said she tried to show the company a copy of Judge Chen’s previous order, to no avail.

“I hope today’s order means that I can get my job back so I can support myself,” the woman said in a statement the groups released.

TPS has proved to be one of the more complicated legal fights.

An early decision by Judge Chen finding the government acted too rashly in winding down the program for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans was put on hold by the Supreme Court.

Judge Chen returned last week with a new ruling he said wasn’t barred by the justices’ previous action.

The online registration system was down for 12 hours on Wednesday, which was supposed to be the last day to sign up.

Judge Chen ordered the government to allow another 24-hour registration period to make up for that snafu and said those applications will be treated as if they were submitted on time.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.