GOP congresswoman breaks with Trump in new ad ahead of midterms: ‘Feel betrayed’
By Lauren Fox, Priscilla Alvarez, CNN
(CNN) — Florida Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar tells President Donald Trump in a new ad that Hispanic voters feel betrayed by him as a result of his immigration agenda.
The ad is a remarkable break with the president by a member of his own party over immigration, a major political fissure just months ahead of the midterms.
The congresswoman addresses Trump directly in the ad, speaking straight to the camera as she says, “some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far.”
Salazar points to statistics she said show that 50% of the people detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in July “had no criminal record.”
“Be careful what your advisers are telling you about immigration policy,” she said. “The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024, feel betrayed today.”
An animated Salazar says she’s not asking Trump to give “amnesty” but she is asking him to give immigrants a “dignified life in this promised land.”
CNN has reached out to the White House to request comment.
The ad comes as there has been increased concern among Republicans around the country that they may be losing ground with Latino voters who backed Trump in the 2024 presidential race, after immigration raids, increased patrolling in cities across America and highly publicized confrontations between ICE agents and protestors, including the killings of two US citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis by federal agents.
Salazar is running for re-election in Florida’s 27th Congressional District, which includes wide swaths of Miami-Dade county. About three-quarters of the population identify as Hispanic. The district voted for Trump by nearly 15 points in 2024.
Salazar’s ad comes as ICE increased immigration arrests nationwide over the summer. In August, for example, ICE took around 51,000 people into custody, setting a new high under the second Trump administration. The previous high had been set the month prior when the agency took more than 46,000 people into custody in July.
The data, some of which is included in Salazar’s ad in the form of a breakdown of detainees with no criminal convictions or pending charges, reveals the record pace at which ICE agents are arresting people.
Since the start of the Trump administration, ICE has been under immense pressure to meet White House-imposed quotas and, over time, has cast a wider net of who’s eligible for arrest, beyond those who are public safety or national security threats.
In recent weeks, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who’s faced backlash from corners of the MAGA base who say he has not been strong enough on immigration enforcement, has forcefully defended the administration’s crackdown, posting photos of deportation flights.
The department has had particular success in Florida because of the 287(g) program, which allows ICE to authorize state and local law enforcement officers to perform specific immigration enforcement duties under ICE’s supervision.
The program is used nationally, but as of last year, Florida had several agencies in the program statewide, the most of any participating state.
This week, the Department of Homeland Security inspector general also released a scathing report revealing that Florida’s detention facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz” briefly held nearly 80 immigrant detainees in small metal enclosures. The facility was closed over the summer.
The-CNN-Wire
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CNN’s Ethan Cohen contributed to this report
