Salazar urges Trump to preserve Hispanic support

Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar urged President Trump to protect the Hispanic voter support that helped return him to the White House, warning that his administration’s immigration enforcement policies have “gone too far” and could damage both his legacy and the Republican Party’s electoral prospects.

The Florida Republican said Sunday on CBS News’s “Face the Nation” that she spoke with Trump after releasing a campaign ad saying Hispanic voters who backed him in 2024 “feel betrayed” by his immigration policies. Salazar described the conversation as “very good” and said Trump was “very receptive.”

“Sir, you have this moment in history where you can keep the pot of gold that you brought to the GOP in 2024,” Salazar said she told the president. “No other president was able to convince the Hispanics to vote 55 points for a GOP president. Please preserve that fortune that you have brought to the party.”

Salazar, who is Cuban American and the daughter of political refugees, has represented a Miami-area district since 2021. She is seeking reelection in November in a district where nearly three-quarters of residents are Hispanic, according to Census Bureau data cited by CBS News. Her Democratic opponent is Eliott Rodriguez, a former CBS News Miami anchor.

Her 30-second ad drew attention inside the Republican Party by criticizing the administration’s immigration crackdown. According to The Guardian, the ad said that in July, “50% of the 50,000 people that were detained had no criminal record,” and warned: “Be careful what your advisers are telling you about immigration policy … The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.”

Salazar said Sunday that immigration is “a very complex topic” and argued that many voters support reform while also backing enforcement against criminals. “The average America understands the difference between the narco and the nanny, and the gangster and the gardener,” she said.

She said she believes Trump also understands that distinction because of his background in construction and hospitality. “He gets it more than anybody,” Salazar said. “And I told him during our conversation, you could fix this mess that has been happening for 40 years. He’s the only person, because he gets it, he’s a businessman.”

Salazar placed much of the blame on Trump’s advisers, saying they are “compromising his legacy.”

“There are no attacks here,” she said. “I’m just forewarning him and advising him as a member of Congress from the South Florida area that some of his advisers are just not presenting the whole picture.”

Asked whether she meant Trump border adviser Tom Homan or White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, Salazar said the decision rests with Trump. “He is the only elected official in the White House,” she said, according to The Guardian. “He is the one who has to determine who he listens and who he does not listen to. He is the president.”

Trump responded Saturday to Salazar’s criticism, saying, “She obviously doesn’t have a very strong feeling about the border. I do.” He added, “Without me, she wouldn’t have gotten elected.”

Salazar said she remains “a proud Republican” and wants to defend values she says Hispanic voters share with the GOP. “I’m coming from a good place,” she said. “I’m telling him, ‘Sir, look what you did. Don’t squander it.’”

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise acknowledged Sunday on ABC News’s “This Week” that Republicans differ over immigration policy. Asked about Salazar’s claim that many Hispanic voters feel betrayed, he said, “I don’t necessarily agree with that statement,” adding that Republicans have disagreements “on how to actually get to the secure border that we have.”