Tens of thousands of Nicaraguan and Honduran immigrants who were previously shielded from deportation could soon become more vulnerable as the Trump administration rolls back legal protections for both groups.

On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it would revoke a designation known as Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for immigrants from both countries, noting that these protections were no longer necessary. TPS is typically granted by DHS to immigrants from countries grappling with a severe natural disaster or conflict. It shields people from deportation and also enables them to obtain work permits, although it doesn’t offer a pathway to citizenship or lawful permanent resident status.

DHS stated that the reasons that led to Nicaragua and Honduras attaining a TPS designation no longer existed. Both countries received TPS designations in 1999, following the devastating damage wrought by Hurricane Mitch in Central America. DHS contends that the two countries have recovered and that people should be able to return to them. However, the State Department has warned travelers from going to both countries, citing issues with wrongful detention in Nicaragua and crime in Honduras.

“Temporary Protected Status was designed to be just that — temporary,” said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in a statement announcing the policy change for Honduran immigrants.

The move — set to take effect on Sept. 8 — is estimated to affect as many as 76,000 immigrants, including some who have been in the U.S. for decades. Although TPS only lasts for 18-month increments at most, it can be renewed repeatedly. Without the legal protections offered by TPS, immigrants could be deported unless they’ve obtained green cards or other means of lawfully staying in the U.S.

The policy change is one of several that the Trump administration is implementing to strip immigrants of their legal protections. It also sought to sunset TPS for immigrants from Venezuela, Haiti, Afghanistan, Cameroon and Nepal. It ended a parole program that protected hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela from deportation as well.

The National TPS Alliance and people from some of the affected countries are suing the Trump administration over its changes to TPS policy, suggesting that it’s driven by racial animus and a violation of the Constitution. This past spring, the Supreme Court enabled the Trump administration to proceed with a policy that revoked TPS for Venezuelan immigrants.

“I am devastated at the heartless decision to terminate TPS for Honduras. I’ve been in the United States since I was three years old. I work in a hospital, caring for cardiac patients. I’ve been doing it the ‘right way’ the whole time,” Jhony Silva, a plaintiff in the new suit against the administration, said in a statement.