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Rep. María Elvira Salazar Breaks With Trump Over Immigration Enforcement
By Drooid · · How we work
Salazar’s Campaign Ad Targets Trump’s Deportation Strategy
On September 17, 2026, Republican U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar released a 30-second television spot that directly addresses President Donald Trump.
Political and Demographic Context
Salazar represents Florida’s 27th Congressional District, a Miami-area seat in which roughly three-quarters of residents are Hispanic, including large Cuban, Venezuelan, Haitian and Nicaraguan communities. The district voted for Trump by a 15-point margin in the 2024 presidential election and gave him about 57 % of the vote within its current boundaries. Salazar has held the seat since 2021 and was re-elected in 2024 by more than 20 points, but internal polling for her Democratic opponent now shows the race tied at 45 % each, indicating a tightening contest ahead of the November 3 midterm election.
Detention Data and Electoral Stakes
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data released later in the year show a rising trend, with 50,925 detainees in August— the highest monthly total on record. A CBS News poll found 55 % of U.S. adults disapprove of Trump’s handling of immigration, while a Gallup survey reported 62 % disapproval overall. In the district, a recent Bendixen & Amandi International poll of 600 likely voters commissioned by the Rodriguez campaign placed Salazar and her Democratic challenger at a dead-heat of 45 % each, a sharp shift from her 2024 margin.
Conflicting Accounts on Detention Figures
Salazar’s claim that half of the July detainees lacked criminal records is drawn from ICE data reported by multiple outlets. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), however, labeled the statistic “not true,” with Secretary Mullin insisting that all detainees were criminal offenders. The discrepancy reflects a broader disagreement over how ICE classifies “criminal” versus “civil” immigration violations and underscores the difficulty of verifying the exact composition of the July detention pool.
Verbatim Quotes
- “Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far,” — Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, of Florida
- “The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today,” — Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, of Florida
- “In July, 50% of the 50,000 people that were detained had no criminal record,” — Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, of Florida
- “You can be for immigration what Lincoln was for slavery, and Reagan was for communism,” — Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, of Florida
- “I’ll say that’s actually not true,” — Markwayne Mullin, homeland security secretary
- “The president knows this. So I think that's why he's willing to allow her to perhaps criticize him in this fashion, because there's a bigger picture here and the bigger picture is keeping control of the House,” — Alex Penelas, NBC6 political analyst