Trump-Endorsed Republican Rebukes His Deportation Policy in South Florida Campaign Ad

Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar says some of President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts have “gone too far,” putting a Trump-endorsed Republican at odds with a central promise of his second term.

The Florida congresswoman made the criticism in a new reelection ad as she seeks a fourth term representing the state’s 27th Congressional District. Trump gave Salazar his “Complete and Total Endorsement” in a Feb. 10 Truth Social post.

“In July, 50% of the 50,000 people that were detained had no criminal record,” Salazar said in the ad. “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. You can be for immigration what Lincoln was for slavery and Reagan was for communism.”

“I’m not talking about giving them amnesty. I’m talking about giving them a dignified life in this promised land,” she continued.

Her remarks sharpen a disagreement that has followed her signature immigration proposal. Salazar is the primary sponsor of the bipartisan DIGNIDAD, or Dignity Act, which would offer some illegal immigrants in the United States a route to legal status. Critics on the right have described the legislation as an amnesty bill.

Salazar disputes that description. She has said the bill would provide neither amnesty nor a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. In a March press release, she argued that giving working, taxpaying illegal immigrants a path to legal status is the “moral, economic, and American thing to do.”

Trump, meanwhile, has made mass deportations a defining part of his second-term immigration agenda. According to figures posted on the White House website, his administration has deported more than 605,000 illegal immigrants, while an additional 1.9 million have left the country on their own.

The Department of Homeland Security defended the administration’s direction in a Jan. 20 statement, saying the president has “a clear mandate to secure our borders, end illegal immigration, take criminal aliens off our streets, protect the American taxpayer, and Make America Safe Again.”

Salazar is taking her message to voters across South Florida. Her campaign said the ad will run on broadcast television, digital platforms and over-the-top streaming services.

The political stakes are substantial in her Miami-area district, which is 73.5% Hispanic, according to Legisletter. Estimates from The Downballot show Trump carried the district by 14.6 points in 2024 after winning it by just 0.3 points in 2020. In 2016, he lost it to Hillary Clinton by 17 points.

Salazar, a former television news anchor, faces another former TV news anchor, Democrat Eliott Rodriguez, in November. The Cook Political Report rates the race “Likely R.”

Neither the White House nor Salazar’s campaign immediately responded to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.