One GOP Rep publicly challenged President Trump’s immigration enforcement policies Thursday, arguing that the administration’s crackdown has gone “too far” and warning that Hispanic voters who supported him in 2024 are feeling alienated.
Florida Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar released a video message directly addressing President Trump, marking another public disagreement between the Miami-area Republican and the administration over immigration enforcement.
“The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today,” Salazar said in the video. She also called for immigrants living in the United States to have an opportunity for “a dignified life in this promised land.”
NEW: Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL) hits President Trump on immigration in a new ad, saying that some of his immigration enforcement has “gone too far” and Hispanics feel betrayed.
Salazar wrote the Dignity Act, which would allow some illegal aliens a path to legal status in the U.S. https://t.co/FUrXmL8ShG
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) September 17, 2026
Her criticism comes as the Trump administration continues an aggressive immigration enforcement campaign that has significantly increased arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
According to figures released by the Department of Homeland Security and cited in the material provided, ICE arrested 50,925 people described by DHS as being in the country illegally during August 2026. That surpassed the 50,208 arrests reported for July and the 43,900 reported for June. The administration has presented those numbers as evidence that President Trump is delivering on his campaign commitment to increase immigration enforcement.
Salazar’s position is not entirely new.
She has repeatedly argued for pairing stronger border enforcement with legal protections for certain immigrants already living and working in the United States. In 2023, Salazar introduced the bipartisan DIGNIDAD, or Dignity, Act with Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar of Texas. Congressional records confirm that the legislation combined immigration enforcement provisions with a process through which qualifying undocumented immigrants could obtain legal status.
Salazar has also previously criticized immigration actions by the Trump administration. In 2025, she said she was “heartbroken” by enforcement actions that she argued had left thousands facing possible deportation, particularly people with pending asylum claims from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
That history provides important context for her latest remarks. Salazar represents Florida’s 27th Congressional District, which includes a substantial Hispanic population, and immigration policy has long been a major component of her political identity.
Her latest criticism is particularly notable because President Trump endorsed Salazar in her reelection campaign. The two Republicans remain aligned on numerous issues, but Salazar’s video demonstrates a significant policy disagreement over how immigration enforcement should be carried out.
President Trump has emphasized deportation and immigration enforcement as central priorities of his administration. Salazar, meanwhile, has advocated an approach that combines enforcement with legal status for some undocumented immigrants who meet specified requirements.
Her new video puts that disagreement squarely in public view, with Salazar arguing that the administration’s current approach risks losing support among Hispanic voters who backed President Trump in 2024.
Sources: User-provided source material; U.S. Congress; Congressional Record.
Would you be able to become a citizen of Iran if you entered their country Illegally???? How long after they put you to death would you have to wait to be a citizen!!!! NO ONE who enters the USA illegally should be given any path to citizenship, NONE!!!!!