‘Hispanics feel betrayed’: María Elvira Salazar breaks with Trump over his immigration offensive in campaign ad
Miami congresswoman confronts the president, saying his immigration policies ‘have gone too far,’ less than two months before the midterms
Republican congresswoman María Elvira Salazar, who is seeking re-election in Miami in November, released an ad Thursday directly attacking President Donald Trump over his immigration policy, saying his arrest-and-deportation operations “have gone too far.”
Hispanic voters who “helped Trump return to the White House” in 2024 now feel “betrayed,” the congresswoman from District 27 — which covers Miami-Dade County, home to some of the country’s largest Latin American diasporas, including Cuban, Venezuelan, Haitian, and Nicaraguan communities — said.
“Mr. President, your immigration policies have gone too far,” Salazar says in a video in Spanish posted to social media, with what appears to be the White House in the background. “In July, your administration detained 50,000 people and half of them had no criminal records. Be careful what your advisers tell you. The same Hispanics who put you back in the White House in 2024 today feel betrayed,” she adds.
Salazar said in the message that she is not asking Trump for an “amnesty” for migrants, and that if a solution is found it could “be to immigration what Lincoln was to slavery and Reagan was to communism.” “I’m talking about giving them a dignified life in this promised land,” she added.
The message to Trump comes less than two months before the midterm elections on November 3, in which Salazar is seeking re-election in District 27 against Democrat Eliott Rodríguez, a former Miami television presenter. A Bendixen & Amandi International poll conducted in late August for Rodríguez’s campaign showed the two candidates tied at 45%. Salazar won the district comfortably in 2024 by more than 20 points.
Seventy-four percent of District 27 residents are Hispanic. Trump carried the district in 2024 with 57% of the vote against the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, reflecting Miami-Dade County’s shift to the Republican Party after decades as a Democratic stronghold.
The Trump administration has launched an anti-immigrant offensive that has intensified in recent months and has generated fear in South Florida communities. According to official figures, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested nearly 51,000 people in August, a new record. The majority of those detained have no criminal history, according to records, and many have ongoing immigration cases, including asylum requests.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has said the offensive is a priority for the Trump administration and that anyone found to be in the country “illegally” can be detained and deported, regardless of their criminal history.
Salazar did not respond to questions from EL PAÍS about why the ad was released now.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition