Story highlights Roughly 5,300 people from Nicaragua have been protected; 86,000 from Honduras

The status of more than 300,000 individuals will be decided in coming months

Washington (CNN) The Trump administration will end the protected immigration status of thousands of Central Americans who have been living in the US nearly two decades, urging Congress to act if it wants to spare those individuals from being uprooted.

Department of Homeland Security acting Secretary Elaine Duke has decided to terminate Temporary Protected Status for Nicaragua with a 12-month delay, the department announced Monday night. DHS also said Duke has not been able to reach a decision on Honduras despite different agencies' input, triggering an automatic six-month extension. At the end of that six-month window, the homeland security secretary will make a decision to terminate or further extend the status.

The Trump administration has signaled a desire to wind down the protections of Temporary Protected Status, which is an immigration status allowed by law for certain countries experiencing dire conditions, such as a natural disaster, epidemic or war. TPS protects individuals from deportation and authorizes them to work in the US. Without TPS, those individuals revert to whatever status they had previously -- which could leave large numbers as undocumented immigrants.

In encouraging Congress to act if it wants to extend those protections permanently, the Trump administration echoed its move in ending the popular Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children and which President Donald Trump decided to sunset this fall.

Both decisions were due by Monday, as the status was set to expire January 5. There is a 60-days-in-advance requirement by law to make a determination on extending or terminating Temporary Protected Status.

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