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Rep. María Elvira Salazar is now warning President Donald Trump that his immigration crackdown has gone too far. But the Florida Republican’s new campaign message comes after years of supporting many of the same enforcement policies she is now criticizing.
“Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far,” Salazar says in a new television ad released Thursday. She also says Hispanic voters who helped Trump win the White House in 2024 “feel betrayed.” The bilingual advertisement represents a sharp break with the president on one of his signature policies.
The apparent contradiction is rooted in Salazar’s congressional record.
She voted for the Secure the Border Act of 2023, a Republican-backed measure that expanded immigration enforcement and restricted asylum eligibility. She also voted for the Laken Riley Act in January 2025, which expanded mandatory detention requirements for certain undocumented immigrants accused of crimes.
Salazar also voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in 2025, which included billions of dollars for immigration enforcement, including expanded funding for detention and deportation operations. A legislative tracker from the NAACP records Salazar voting for the bill on both its May and July House votes.
That record gives her Democratic opponent, Eliott Rodríguez, an opening to argue that Salazar is attempting to distance herself from an agenda she previously helped enact.
A Record That Includes Both Enforcement and Reform
Salazar’s position has not been uniformly aligned with the administration’s most expansive immigration policies.
She has also pushed legislation that would provide certain long-term undocumented immigrants without criminal records with legal status and work authorization, while explicitly stopping short of granting citizenship. Her approach has put her at odds with some Republican immigration hard-liners, who have criticized the proposal as amnesty.
In 2025, Salazar also criticized aspects of the administration’s enforcement actions, saying that immigrants with pending asylum claims should receive due process.
Still, her record includes repeated votes for tougher enforcement measures. That history is central to the criticism surrounding her new advertisement.
Salazar Says Trump Has Gone Too Far
The ad comes as South Florida has experienced an aggressive expansion of immigration enforcement and detention.
Salazar specifically points to people being detained despite having no criminal record and argues that enforcement should focus on immigrants who pose public-safety threats rather than longtime residents without criminal convictions.
Her message puts her at odds with parts of the Trump administration and Republican Party that continue to defend the broader enforcement strategy.
The Trump administration has argued that federal immigration agencies are carrying out laws enacted by Congress.
Salazar, meanwhile, is seeking reelection in Florida’s 27th Congressional District after Trump endorsed her earlier this year. She won reelection by 20 percentage points in 2024, while Trump carried the district with 57% of the vote.
Her Democratic challenger, Rodríguez, has accused her of trying to separate herself from policies she previously supported.
The central question raised by the campaign is therefore not simply whether Salazar now disagrees with Trump’s immigration crackdown. It is how far her current position departs from the enforcement policies she previously voted to support.
That distinction is likely to remain a central issue as Salazar campaigns for another term.
