Overview
- Rep. María Elvira Salazar released a 30-second bilingual ad on Sept. 17 filmed outside the White House that tells President Trump his immigration enforcement 'has gone too far' and says Hispanic voters 'feel betrayed.'
- The ad cites government and ICE figures showing roughly 49,571 arrests in July with more than half of those detained reported to have no prior criminal convictions, a metric that does not count immigration violations.
- Salazar won Trump’s endorsement earlier this year and leads the bipartisan DIGNIDAD Act that would create a renewable legal-status route for long-term undocumented immigrants without criminal records.
- Democrats and critics accused Salazar of hypocrisy after resurfacing her past votes to fund DHS and ICE, while her Democrat opponent Eliott Rodriguez and internal polls point to a tighter contest in the heavily Hispanic 27th District.
- Analysts say the move fits a small but growing pattern of Republicans distancing from the president on immigration and could affect Latino voter attitudes, turnout and campaign messaging in key midterm contests.