--- title: Trump-Backed Republican Congresswoman Says the President’s Immigration Crackdown Has Gone ‘Too Far’ description: Rep. María Elvira Salazar released an ad in which she criticized President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement efforts, just months after he endorsed her re-election campaign. canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/09/17/trump-immigration-florida-republican-maria-elvira-salazar-midterms/ author: Chantelle Lee article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-09-17T20:30:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-09-17T21:57:42.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump-Backed Republican Congresswoman Says the President’s Immigration Crackdown Has Gone ‘Too Far’ og:description: Rep. María Elvira Salazar released an ad in which she criticized President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement efforts, just months after he endorsed her re-election campaign. og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/09/17/trump-immigration-florida-republican-maria-elvira-salazar-midterms/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt37e0e642a580acef/6aac413bbf6e6486dad1a521/Salazar-Ad-Trump-Immigration.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Salazar-Ad-Trump-Immigration.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump-Backed Republican Congresswoman Says the President’s Immigration Crackdown Has Gone ‘Too Far’ twitter:description: Rep. María Elvira Salazar released an ad in which she criticized President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement efforts, just months after he endorsed her re-election campaign. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt37e0e642a580acef/6aac413bbf6e6486dad1a521/Salazar-Ad-Trump-Immigration.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump-Backed Republican Congresswoman Says the President’s Immigration Crackdown Has Gone ‘Too Far’ > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) talks to reporters following a House Republican conference in the basement of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 1, 2026. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Chantelle Lee](https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/) ## Chantelle Lee Reporter Updated: Sep 17, 2026 9:57 PM UTCPublished: Sep 17, 2026 8:30 PM UTC Rep. María Elvira Salazar, a Florida Republican up for re-election in [November](https://time.com/article/2026/08/04/midterm-elections-republicans-democrats-polls-economy-trump/), released an ad on Thursday in which she criticized President [Donald Trump’](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/donald-trump/)s [immigration crackdown](https://time.com/7358027/ice-agents-minnesota-alex-pretti-abolish-ice/), just months after he endorsed her campaign. “Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far,” Salazar said in the [ad](https://x.com/MaElviraSalazar/status/2100617801245344207). “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," she continued. "I’m not talking about giving them amnesty. I’m talking about giving them a dignified life in this promised land. And only you can do that.” The video marked a stunning break from the President who backed Salazar’s re-election bid earlier this year. In February, Trump said in a [Truth Social post](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116049024324119533) that the Congresswoman was “doing a truly fantastic job representing the wonderful people of Florida’s 27th Congressional District!” and that she “knows the Wisdom and Courage required to confront the Corrupt Fake News.” He said that she had his “Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election” before telling voters that Salazar “WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!” Salazar joins a growing number of Republicans who have publicly pushed back on Trump’s policies. Trump has [railed against](https://time.com/7358546/trump-midterms-republicans-primaries/) other members of his party who have broken with him, going so far as to endorse several of their challengers in the primaries. The President endorsed Ed Gallrein, for instance, who ultimately defeated [Rep. Thomas Massie](https://time.com/article/2026/09/15/massie-hegseth-impeachment-iran/) in the May Republican primary for the Kentucky Congressman’s seat, after Massie [broke](https://time.com/7296692/thomas-massie-trump-mr-no-contrarian-obbb-iran-primary-campaign/) with Trump on various issues, including objecting to the “One Big Beautiful Bill” and [leading the effort](https://time.com/7334230/epstein-files-vote-thomas-massie/) to push the Department of Justice to [release](https://time.com/7334902/epstein-files-released-house-vote/) the so-called “Epstein files.” Salazar’s campaign [said](https://mariaelvirasalazar.com/immigration%5Fad%5F2026/) that the video released on Thursday is the first of multiple ads that it plans to run before the upcoming midterm elections, in which Salazar is facing off against Democratic nominee Eliott Rodríguez. Both Salazar and Rodríguez are Cuban American, and previously worked as journalists. Rodríguez criticized Salazar for the ad in a video that he [shared](https://x.com/ERodforCongress/status/2100676045326176742) on social media on Thursday, claiming that she had "desperately sought Donald Trump's endorsement" but was now speaking out "because \[Trump's\] immigration policy is political poison in her re-election campaign." Rodríguez went on to accuse his Republican opponent of being a "pathetic rubber stamp for Donald Trump." "María Elvira Salazar did this—make no mistake about it," Rodríguez said. "She owns all of these deportations, ICE harassment, family separations, and racial profiling. She voted for it. She gave Donald Trump the money and the tools to do it. Now, just 47 days before the midterm election, she is trying to convince voters that she disagrees with Trump's inhumane practices on undocumented people with no criminal record." The [Cook Political Report](https://www.cookpolitical.com/ratings/house-race-ratings) indicates that Salazar, a three-term Congresswoman, is expected to hold on to her seat come November, rating it as “Likely Republican.” In the district Salazar represents, the foreign-born population makes up [more than 54% of the total population](https://www.congress.gov/crs%5Fexternal%5Fproducts/R/PDF/R48940/R48940.1.pdf)—one of the largest proportions of all the districts in the lower chamber. Thursday’s ad isn’t the first time that Salazar has expressed concerns about the Trump Administration’s immigration enforcement efforts. Earlier this week, she responded to [reports](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/16/nicaraguan-journalist-luis-galeano-detained-ice) that [Luis Galeano](https://cpj.org/2026/09/cpj-calls-on-ice-to-release-exiled-nicaraguan-journalist-luis-galeano/), an exiled Nicaraguan journalist whose U.S. asylum application has been pending for years, had been detained by federal immigration agents. “America must always know the difference between a criminal and a political exile,” Salazar said in a [statement](https://x.com/MaElviraSalazar/status/2099553888814629351) shared on social media. “Luis is a respected journalist who paid a price for telling the truth about the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship. The regime persecuted him, forced him into exile, and stripped him of his citizenship. That history matters. He cannot be sent back into the hands of the people who targeted him.” “I have been clear with the Administration: enforce the law and deport dangerous individuals, but do not treat political exiles like criminals,” she continued. Salazar has also been backing a bipartisan measure in the House that would grant immigrants who don’t have a criminal history a route to secure legal status in the U.S., but not a pathway to citizenship. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/09/17/trump-immigration-florida-republican-maria-elvira-salazar-midterms/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/09/17/trump-immigration-florida-republican-maria-elvira-salazar-midterms/"},"headline":"Trump-Backed Republican Congresswoman Says the President’s Immigration Crackdown Has Gone ‘Too Far’","datePublished":"2026-09-17T20:30:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-09-17T21:57:42.000Z","description":"Rep. 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