Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, Florida Republican, has released a campaign ad declaring that President Trump went “too far” with his mass deportations, warning him he’s losing Hispanic voters who put him back in the White House.
She said his administration is arresting too many illegal immigrants who otherwise don’t have criminal records.
She said that has left Hispanic voters feeling “betrayed.”
“You can be for immigration what Lincoln was for slavery and Reagan was for communism. I’m not talking about giving them amnesty. I’m talking about giving them a dignified life in this promised land,” she said in the ad, adopting a stern demeanor in scolding the president.
Ms. Salazar also cautioned Mr. Trump to “be careful what your advisers are telling you” on immigration — though she didn’t name names.
The ad captures growing worries about Republicans’ prospects in November and worry over Mr. Trump’s historically aggressive immigration enforcement efforts.
Ms. Salazar, the daughter of Cuban exiles, is seeking her fourth term from her Miami district.
It’s an area where Republicans have seen strong support in recent years. Ms. Salazar won her district with more than 60% of the vote in 2024.
This year she is facing a strong challenge from Democrat Eliott Rodriguez who, like her, is a former television newscaster.
He has been campaigning heavily on an immigration message, calling for a major pullback on Homeland Security’s enforcement surge.
Ms. Salazar didn’t offer specifics in her new ad, but her criticism of the arrest of noncriminals echoes a major complaint of Democrats who say Mr. Trump broke his promise to focus on the “worst of the worst” among potential deportees.
The latest data released publicly by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement dates to mid-July, when the agency had more than 58,000 ICE-arrested migrants in detention.
Of those, about 31% had criminal convictions on their records and another 32% had pending criminal charges. The remainder — about 37% — were targeted solely because of lack of legal status.
At the end of the Biden administration, that noncriminal ICE detention figure was less than 10%.
Looking solely at ICE arrests, the ratio of noncriminal cases was even higher this summer, topping 50%, according to information from the Deportation Data Project.
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