Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar released a new 30-second campaign ad on Sept. 17 that criticizes President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement, saying “some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far” as she courts Hispanic voters in her Miami-area district.
The spot, delivered in English and Spanish, was recorded in front of the White House and is airing across South Florida, Reuters reported, making it Salazar’s first general election ad to directly question the president’s deportation campaign.
In the ad Salazar warns that “the same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today,” language first reported by The Guardian and picked up by major outlets including PBS’s account of the Associated Press dispatch.
Salazar represents a heavily Latino Miami-area district and is running a competitive race against Democrat Eliott Rodriguez, a former TV news anchor; Reuters noted nonpartisan analysts rate the seat as “likely Republican” but competitive. The ad is widely seen as an effort to blunt voter backlash to aggressive enforcement operations tied to the administration.
Reporting by Reuters placed the spot in the wider context of the administration’s enforcement campaign, noting large street-level operations earlier this year and a drop in public approval for Trump’s handling of immigration — a Reuters/Ipsos poll found 39% approval on immigration in September, Reuters reported.
PBS/Associated Press also summarized Salazar’s lines from the ad and framed the move as part of a broader pattern of Republicans in tight districts subtly distancing themselves from the president on select issues ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms.
Salazar has promoted the Dignity Act in Congress, a proposal that would create pathways for some undocumented immigrants to obtain legal status; The Guardian reported she invoked that agenda in the ad while insisting she did not support “amnesty.”
The ad follows other ripples within the GOP over immigration policy this month — including leadership changes at the Department of Homeland Security — and legal setbacks to executive orders on citizenship that have kept immigration a central midterm issue. For background on related administration developments, see reporting on the DHS secretary replacement and the judge’s block on a birthright citizenship order.
Sources
- Reuters — ad filmed in front of the White House, aired across South Florida, context on enforcement and poll figures.
- The Guardian — verbatim lines from the ad, background on Salazar’s district and the Dignity Act.
- PBS (Associated Press) — summary of the ad and note that it represents a break with the president by a House Republican in a competitive race.
