The Trump White House stopped a cleared Homeland Security order weeks before the midterms, catching some inside the department by surprise.
The Department of Homeland Security had approved a notice this month ending temporary protected status for roughly 200,000 Salvadorans before the White House intervened, Politico reported on Tuesday, citing an administration official and three other people close to the Trump administration.
The protections were due to lapse three weeks ago unless extended, and the Trump administration has yet to make a call either way. DHS and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services had signed off on the notice for publication in the Federal Register when the White House stepped in.
"It just came down from the White House," said Mark Krikorian, who leads the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington think tank that backs tighter immigration limits and stronger enforcement. "They may just be thinking, let's make this go away for six months until after the election, not because it's going to have any direct effect on the election. They just don't want the news stories about this."
The White House sent Politico's questions to DHS. A department spokesperson repeated an earlier statement that an announcement would be "made at an appropriate time" and that "Salvadoran individuals present in the U.S. under TPS retain protection."
The pause reflects the competing pressures on the Trump administration heading into November. Some of Trump's most loyal backers worry he has softened, while independents and Hispanic Trump voters argue he has overreached. Texas, home to the nation's second-largest Salvadoran community, is also hosting a fiercely contested Senate race.
Business leaders have leaned on the White House as well.
"Texas has the second-largest Salvadoran population next to Los Angeles, and in terms of just how long this population's been around, these are employees connected to some very high-level donors and business leaders that have reached out to the president and senior officials," another person close to the administration told Politico.
One of the sources close to the Trump administration told Politico the delay shows "tension within the White House about what to do." Any decision will be "unpopular with somebody no matter what," the source warned.
"The politics of it go both ways. There's a perception that if [Trump] were to let them stay, that that would somehow have some kind of political benefit for some Republican candidate somewhere, or for him?" the person said. "On the other hand, it's also contributing to the frustration with some people on the more hawkish side for enforcement that the president's gone soft."