Rep. María Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., is facing sharp criticism from within her own party after releasing a campaign ad that argues President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far in pursuing people without criminal records.
The ad, released Thursday, shows Salazar speaking directly to the camera outside the White House. In it, she tells the president that some of his enforcement efforts have crossed a line and warns that Hispanic voters who helped him win in 2024 now feel betrayed. She urges him to be careful about the advice he is receiving on immigration policy, comparing the opportunity before him to Lincoln's stance on slavery and Reagan's stance on communism. Salazar says she is not calling for amnesty but for a dignified life for immigrants in what she calls the promised land, adding that only Trump can deliver it.
The response from conservative Republicans was swift. The House Freedom Caucus released an official statement defending the president's approach and rejecting any legal status for undocumented immigrants. The group said Trump's enforcement efforts should be applauded and continue as is, arguing that any alien who enters the country illegally has committed a crime and that the United States should deport every illegal alien. The caucus called granting any legal status amnesty and said it stands with Trump to secure the border, enforce the law, and lock those policies into statute so no future administration can undo them.
The Department of Homeland Security also pushed back on Salazar, saying it is focused on delivering what it called the most historic mass deportation campaign in American history, exactly as Trump promised. The department said ICE agents are enforcing laws passed by Congress whether Salazar likes it or not, and that the only thing America should give illegal aliens is a one-way ticket home or a generous $3,000 check to self-deport immediately. It added that the rule of law will not be ignored.
Salazar's district in South Florida voted for Trump by double digits in 2024, making her criticism of his immigration policy a notable break from her own constituents' recent voting pattern. She is one of several Hispanic lawmakers in the House GOP who have been warning that the party could be alienating Hispanic and Latino voters who were critical to Republican wins in recent years.
Her seat is rated R+6 by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, meaning it is likely to stay in Republican hands. But Democrats are targeting the district as a potential pickup opportunity as they work to win back control of the House, giving the intraparty dispute additional political weight.
This is not the first time Salazar has drawn fire from the Freedom Caucus over immigration. She previously took heat for her bipartisan legislation to reform the asylum process and give a legal pathway to undocumented people already in the United States who have not committed crimes. The latest ad has renewed that tension, putting a spotlight on the broader Republican divide over how far deportation efforts should go and whether the party's messaging risks losing Hispanic voters in key districts.