Maria Salazar Ad Lecturing Trump on Immigration Policy Backfires in Her District
“The people who voted for Trump — the 70 or so million — one of the reasons was because they wanted to get all the illegal people out of here.”
On September 17th, Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (FL-27) released a campaign ad in both English and Spanish in which she lectured President Donald Trump about immigration policy while standing in front of the White House.
In it, she suggested that some of his “immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far,” pointing to ICE data she claimed showed that 50% of detainees apprehended in July “had no criminal convictions or pending charges.”
“Be careful what your advisors are telling you on immigration policy,” she went on to warn, adding that “the same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.”
Towards the end of the clip, Salazar stressed that she wasn’t “talking about giving them amnesty. I’m talking about giving them a dignified life in this promised land, and only you can do that.”
For those who missed it, watch:
A Message to President Trump on Immigration | María Elvira Salazar pic.twitter.com/memcf4jags
— María Elvira Salazar 🇺🇸 (@MaElviraSalazar) September 17, 2026
Salazar is facing a tough reelection fight in a midterm election year. The Cook Political Report noted that “though Salazar has a history of overperforming the top of the ticket, Trump’s sinking approval rating in South Florida will be an anchor on the congresswoman.” On September 25th, it changed its race rating for the district from Likely R to Lean R.
Her Democratic opponent, ex-CBS News Miami anchor Eliott Rodriguez, has “made affordability and opposition to the Trump administration’s immigration policies central themes of his campaign.”
Initially, Trump’s criticisms of her over the ad were fairly mild:
Trump, who endorsed Salazar for reelection, said that he disagreed with the three-term representative but said he “understands” her position.
“She got a little bit soft on the border. I understand that. I understand that. But I just don’t happen to be there,” he said, insisting that support for his anti-immigration policies remained strong.
He also stated that it’s likely she wouldn’t have gotten elected in the first place without his support:
Reporter: “Congresswoman Maria Salazar filmed a video outside the White House the other day, disagreeing with your immigration policies. You endorsed her primary campaign. Do you still back her run? And have you seen that video?”
President Trump: “I disagree with her. Look, I… pic.twitter.com/zyKpdYSlEB
— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) September 18, 2026
Some of the Hispanic voters in her district, however, were not so forgiving:
But many Latino voters in Salazar’s district said that she has misread their sentiment and that their support for Trump has not wavered. Their support for their congresswoman, however, has waned, they said — and the ad did nothing to restore their confidence.
“She’s out of line,” said Hector Rubio, a resident of Miami’s wealthy enclave of Key Biscayne. Rubio, a longtime Republican voter who supported Salazar in the past three races, said in Spanish that Trump “is doing what he can, and he could do even more.” As he watched his wife shop in the neighborhood’s busy farmers market on Saturday morning, Rubio advised Salazar to stick close to Trump.
[…]
“The people who voted for Trump — the 70 or so million — one of the reasons was because they wanted to get all the illegal people out of here,” said South Miami resident Richard Santos, 80, in an interview outside of the city’s iconic Versailles restaurant. Santos said that he voted for Salazar in the past but that he’s no longer supporting her because she challenged the president.
[…]
“She just did it because she wants to keep her seat in Congress,” said Julio Perez, 54, as he smoked a cigarette outside of Versailles alongside Santos.
Rodriguez told The Washington Post that he “was not expecting” the ad from his opponent, “but it tells me that they’re nervous.”
“She seems to have opened her eyes, but it’s too late. After you vote for all of this, after you vote to fund ICE, after you go ahead with Trump’s tariffs?” he went on to say.
While that’s something one would expect him to say, on this, Rodriguez has a point. The Community Note on the Spanish language version of Salazar’s ad that was posted to X provided what it called the “missing context” from it:
Missing Context: Rep. Salazar has voted with Trump’s stated position nearly 100% of the time, including votes for Republican bills that provided ICE and CBP with about $235 billion in new funding. At the time, she said passing the ICE funding bill was a “historic win!”
Un mensaje al presidente Trump sobre inmigración | María Elvira Salazar pic.twitter.com/jEwtL7Mbe8
— María Elvira Salazar 🇺🇸 (@MaElviraSalazar) September 17, 2026
On Saturday, Trump ramped up his criticism of Salazar, reposting Truth Social posts from other users who were unhappy with her campaign actions, with some suggesting it was time for a new Republican to take her place (note: the Florida primary was held in August):
President Donald Trump on Saturday escalated his criticism of Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), amplifying a series of social media posts attacking the Florida Republican and, in multiple instances, calling for her replacement ahead of her election in just over a month.
Trump reposted more than a dozen messages criticizing Salazar on Truth Social, the president’s social media platform, including one user’s post that read: “So we need a NEW Republican to Replace Salazar.”
[…]
Other posts accused the three-term congressmember of betraying Trump — echoing long-standing criticism from MAGA that the Florida lawmaker is pro “amnesty” as an immigration policy, a characterization that she has repeatedly denied.
In a series of reposts on his Truth Social account tonight, President Trump started to hit @RepMariaSalazar for her recent TV ad criticizing his immigration policies.
After initially shrugging off Salazar’s comments, he now appears to be making clear his displeasure. @CBSMiami pic.twitter.com/JOuxyDE0CB— Jim DeFede (@DeFede) September 26, 2026
President Trump is posting replies from Twitter criticizing Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) after she said his immigration policies were going “too far.” pic.twitter.com/e3NAfS52o2
— Politics & Poll Tracker 📡 (@PollTracker2024) September 26, 2026
It appears that, in trying to appeal to “all sides” in the immigration debate in her district, Salazar has made things harder for herself. Trump hasn’t said whether he’s pulling his endorsement of her, but from the looks of things in FL-27, he still has a fair number of loyalists in the Hispanic community who will think twice about supporting Salazar in November.
– Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via X. –
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Comments
America used to be a melting pot. Now it’s full of lumps.
The problem with illegal immigrants is their failure to assimilate. The result is our country is becoming like the third world countries they came from.
The progressives hate the term melting pot now all of a sudden. Their current term I believe is salad – not to be confused with Kameltoe’s word salads.
Oh, it’s not sudden.
The “salad” crap started 30 years ago, and it was a danger signal too many people ignored.
Try 60 years ago.
America has always been an uneven stew rather than a melting pot, and I, for one can live with it.
Further, I’ll take issue with the OP, which speaks of Trump as “anti-immigrant”. He seems to have no problem with legal immigrants, even though he has allowed his enemies’ discourse cast millions of Lawful Permanent Residents and citizens by naturlization rather than birth into a semantic limbo.
Assimilation, both in culture and language. Muslims don’t do that. They swarm in, take over, and turn cities into Muslim hellholes and “no go zones.” See: Dearborn. Sharia law should be BANNED without exception, and outdated, violent practices, like burkas, should be cast out. You want Sharia, go live where it is already oppressing people.
Maybe send our recalcitrant Muslims to Gaza or Iran.
Along with illegal invaders, we need to start deporting crime loving democrats from Congress.
And RINO’s like traitor bimbo Maria.
I wasn’t aware that the standard for deporting illegal aliens was whether they’ve committed subsequent crimes, after entry, in addition to their initial crime of illegal entry.
That’s an utterly artificial, moronic and totally political “standard” that’s been contrived by the vile and subversive Islamo-Marxist Dhimmi-crats, as an obstructionist tactic to stifle and hinder lawful and legitimate deportation operations.
💯
If they can fool you into using their terms and definitions, you accept their assumptions, and they win.
Commies always redefine the language to take control of it. Islamocommunists are even worse.
Let me be blunt. I want them all gone. All illegals. Gone.
Ideally there are a lot more I want gone. All the Chinese students. Gone. All the indian tech workers undertrained and underpaid brought in to take American jobs. Gone. All the legal immigrants who hate this country and work to undermine it.
Gone. All of them.
I realize that we are stuck with the legal aliens who hate this country but have become citizens, We need to marginalize them.
Oh by the way this is the not the promised land. It is merely yet another country with a population too stupid to avoid its own self-destruction.
Agree with all. Regarding your last paragraph: I am old, very old, and unlike some others my age I have no desire to be 30 years younger because I do not want to be around when this country arrives at it’s probable state. Not sure I could point to a particular time when the tide turned, but t definitely has. Wrong direction.
Don’t forget the illegal alien truck “drivers” who are causing mayhem on the streets, thanks to crap hole Communist Democrat areas like Commufornica.
So Salazar is pandering to the left. So the solution is,,, vote for the Democrat?
Do what the Democrats do – pull the candidate and sub in someone else!
Wonder how many
vacation homesprimary residences Maria has?Hopefully some enterprising patriot will fill her second home with a half dozen migrants. Mostly male with ties to criminal gangs. Do the same with her primary home when she is in DC.
As a matter of fact, house all the illegals in homes on prominent democrats, leftist entertainers, and local activists all over the country.
They would not be squatters as they have been invited in by their hosts. For those homeowners who are DSA in addition to housing the migrant’s ownership of the properties should be transferred to the illegals in the name of equity.
‘Immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far’ ….well yes but not in the way Rep Salazar describes. They’ve gone too far in attempting to placate the desire to avoid images some would find upsetting. They’ve gone too far in limiting workplace enforcement. They’ve gone to far in allowing sanctuary jurisdictions to protect/enable (harbor) illegal aliens.
IOW we need far more draconian efforts that are visible enough and frightening enough to create an immediate desire by every illegal alien to get out of the USA. Plenty of ways to do so lawfully once we stop worrying about whether the touchy/feely types will experience any discomfort.
So is Maria purposely trying to get a dem elected. She really expects us to believe that she is not proposing amnesty…she just wants illegals to have dignity? The best way to get dignity is to go back where they came from and apply to come here legally
Maybe we should bring back Armed Barbie Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski, to make ICE great again.
Or Alternatively, Trump could worry about gas prices. Remember that time back in March we were told this was a 4 week war?
The truth is, Trump wants to lose the house. He needs Hakeem Jeffries as a villain.
Maybe we could all sit around in a circle and cry.
I”m paying less for gas than I did under Biden. Find another whine.
I’m paying more, but consider it a small price to pay to avoid the incineration of an American city or two by Iranian nuclear missiles. Trump is doing a poor job of communicating that the “high price” of gas is actually a pittance when compared to the threat he’s attempting to nullify.
She needs to take her campaign consultants on a deep-sea fishing trip, and leave them there.
Time for the Bermuda Triangle to work its magic.
Republicans. Still finding ways to lose.
It is in their DNA
I thought it was just the Left, but now RINOs are forgetting that Trump said he’d go after the worst illegal alien criminals first. He never said his pursuit of illegals would end with that cohort.
Salazer is seriously misreading the room. Trump’s support among blacks and Latinos increased in 2024 (over their support for him in earlier elections) likely because they understand they are the people who feel the effects of large numbers of illegals in the workforce and in competition with them for housing. She’s treating her constituents as if they’re stupid, just as the Dems have been treating their constituents for decades.
The establishment/corporatist have convinced the go along get along, Ned Flanders types that deporting ‘hard working immigrants who want an opportunity to live the American dream’ is somehow a bad thing …not that it took much convincing, more like providing a fig leaf to hide their pre-existing beliefs.
Add to this there’s a lot of powerful interests impacted by mass deportation. Consider govt schools. Get 25 million ish illegal aliens deported and suddenly K-12 loses students which means loss of Federal $ which means layoffs of teachers/support staff and consolidation of schools. Housing – demand will drop meaning rents fall pretty fast and so will home prices …eventually. Domestic consumer spending will also drop across all sorts of products which ultimately means prices will fall/product limes will fail/consolidation/ job losses. Govt expenditures should fall frm less demand and less govt employees needed to administer programs no longer used by 25 million ish missing deported aliens.
I’m sending Senorita Salazar an email this morning, letting her know that I’ll support ANYONE who runs against her in the future. POS.
Salazar got out over her skateboard.
She’s always had an obnoxious side to her, though.
This is a good example of why political parties and voters should look beyond the political stances of candidates and seek to know their character. L
This is not a valid objection. She still supports Trump’s stated position. Her objection is only to the implementation, which she believes has been flawed.