USA17 September, 20262 min read
María Elvira Salazar Breaks With Donald Trump Over Immigration Enforcement Going Too Far
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Salazar released campaign ad criticizing Trump's immigration enforcement as having gone too far. Hispanic voters feel betrayed by Trump due to mass deportations cited in ad.
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Salazar breaks with Trump
Republican congresswoman María Elvira Salazar of Florida told President Donald Trump in a campaign video that his immigration enforcement efforts “have gone too far,” as she sought reelection ahead of the November 3 midterm elections. In the ad, Salazar said, “In July, 50% of the 50,000 people that were detained had no criminal record,” and she warned, “Be careful what your advisers are telling you about immigration policy.”
“In July, 50% of the 50,000 people that were detained had no criminal record.”
BBC News Mundo reported that Salazar’s message arrived as a wave of arrests and deportations by U.S. immigration authorities in Florida and other states intensified, with “More than 100,000 migrants” arrested between July and August by ICE and CBP. CBS News added that Salazar’s Miami-area district is Republican-leaning and that nearly three-quarters of the population is Hispanic, while it also noted that a CBS News and YouGov poll found most Hispanic voters preferred a candidate opposed to the administration’s ICE operations approach.
DHS rejects amnesty
After Salazar’s video was published, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security responded that “there will be no amnesty for illegal immigrants. Neither now nor ever,” and it said it would continue what it described as the “most historic mass deportation campaign in U.S. history.”
The DHS response also named Salazar directly, saying, “Like it or not, Congresswoman Salazar, the men and women of ICE are enforcing the laws passed by Congress,” and it rejected any possibility of granting amnesty.
El Espectador described Salazar’s stance as a “hard swing against Trump for deportations,” quoting her campaign video: “Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far.”
FOX 35 Orlando reported that Salazar launched the campaign ad aimed at Trump over his administration’s strict enforcement of deportation policies, with FOX 35’s Jack Royer joined by Dr. Brian Fonseca, director of the Jack Gordon Institute for Public Policy at FIU.
Numbers, polls, and fallout
The dispute over immigration enforcement is playing out against a backdrop of polling and election timing, with BBC News Mundo placing Salazar’s video within the midterm elections campaign for November 3 and describing her as seeking reelection as the representative for Florida in the House of Representatives.
“Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far.”
BBC News Mundo also cited a CBS News poll released in September showing that 55% of adults disapproved of Trump’s handling of immigration, versus 45% who approved, and it said Trump’s overall job approval stood at 39%.
In the same reporting, BBC News Mundo said ICE detained 50,925 people in August, above the July record of 50,208 and roughly 43,000 in June, and it added that deportations reached a monthly high in July of nearly 34,000.
Meanwhile, AlterNet framed Salazar’s break with Trump as a challenge to unity within the Republican Party, quoting her ad that “Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far,” and it cited her claim that “In July, 50 percent of the 50,000 people that were detained had no criminal record.”