Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar has told President Donald Trump that some of his immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far, warning in a new reelection ad that Hispanic voters who helped return him to the White House now “feel betrayed.”
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Salazar addressed Trump directly in the ad, which was released Thursday and is set to run on television and online in South Florida.
“Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far,” Salazar said.
She pointed to immigration arrests in July, saying half of the 50,000 people detained had no criminal record, then told Trump to “be careful what your advisers are telling you about immigration policy.”
Salazar has challenged Trump before
Trump endorsed Salazar in February. She is seeking another term in Florida’s 27th Congressional District, a Miami-area seat where nearly three-quarters of the population is Hispanic.
Salazar has criticized Trump’s deportation policy before. Her own immigration proposal would give some undocumented immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for years, pay taxes and have no criminal record a renewable legal work status.
“The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today,” Salazar said. “I’m not talking about giving them amnesty. I’m talking about giving them a dignified life in this promised land.”
Earlier this week, Salazar also called for an immediate review after immigration agents detained Luis Galeano, an exiled Venezuelan journalist whose U.S. asylum application has been pending for seven years.
Her Democratic opponent also targets Trump’s immigration policy
Salazar faces Democrat Eliott Rodriguez, a former CBS News Miami anchor who won his primary in August. Rodriguez, the son of Cuban immigrants, made his own criticism of Trump’s immigration enforcement part of a January campaign ad.
“Yes, secure borders matter, but so does due process and our Constitution,” Rodriguez said. “When our leaders stay silent as these rights are trampled on, that silence is not leadership.”
Salazar pushes legal status for some immigrants
Salazar is a lead sponsor of the bipartisan Dignity Act, which would allow certain undocumented immigrants who arrived before 2021 and do not have criminal records to obtain legal status after paying $7,000 in restitution and any back taxes they owe.
The legislation would not provide a path to citizenship. Salazar has repeatedly said the proposal is not “amnesty.”
The White House had not responded to Salazar’s new ad Thursday.
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