Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar is warning President Trump that his administration’s immigration crackdown is fraying the GOP’s standing with Hispanic voters, who emerged as a critical swing vote in 2024. Salazar, R-Fla., spent three decades at the Spanish-language network Telemundo before running for Congress. She told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that some of Trump’s advisers are compromising his legacy.
The warning comes as Trump’s administration pushes hard on immigration — 50,000 migrants were detained in July, and Salazar notes that half of them did not have a rap sheet. She cut a stark ad arguing that Trump’s Latino voters feel betrayed.
Salazar told Trump in their conversation: “Sir, you have this moment in history where you can keep the pot of gold that you brought to the GOP in 2024.” She also told him: “No other president was able to convince the Hispanics to vote 55 points for a GOP president. Please preserve that fortune that you have brought to the party.”
The 2024 contest
Exit polls indicated Trump beat then-Vice President Kamala Harris with Hispanic and Latino men in the 2024 contest. Salazar credits Trump for being able to win over Hispanic voters in the first place, and she warns the stakes of the midterm are high due to rising support for socialism in the US.
Her own path to politics is notable. She spent three decades at Telemundo before running for Congress. She describes herself as a first-generation American and the daughter of refugees from Cuba, whose goal is to preserve American values entrenched in the GOP.
The oil deal with Venezuela
Last month, Salazar blasted Trump’s oil deal with Venezuela in an X post. She deleted that post and replaced it with one praising the deal as a “good deal.”
In her post, she reflected that Trump “has forced the bad actors to create the platform for the good actors to come in.” She added: “I do know that the United States is in the business of bringing liberty and democracy to our neighbors, and transition will occur. So Delcy is just a necessary evil for now to stabilize.”
Salazar noted there’s a difference between “narco and the nanny and the gangster and the gardener.” The post is a striking turn from her earlier criticism of the deal.
What Salazar wants from Trump
Salazar is asking Trump to hold the coalition together. She wants him to remember that no other president has moved Hispanic voters the way he did — and she wants him to protect that political fortune.
She told him plainly: “Please preserve that fortune that you have brought to the party.” The pot of gold is real, and she believes the advisers are the ones not presenting the whole picture.
The stakes of the midterm
Salazar warns the stakes are high due to rising support for socialism in the US. She wants Trump to keep the coalition intact. Her warning is direct: if the administration pushes too hard on immigration, the Hispanic vote could fragment.
Where the paper stands
The paper backs Salazar’s warning and is against any administration that gathers more power over private life, whoever holds it. This is the central lesson of her own turn on the Venezuela oil deal, where she deleted her earlier criticism and praised the deal as a good one.
That is not strength. That is a warning sign.
The paper wants the administration to remember what Salazar is asking: that Trump’s advisers are the ones not presenting the whole picture, and that the Hispanic vote could fragment if the crackdown on 50,000 detained migrants, half of whom did not have a rap sheet, continues. Salazar’s own ad arguing that Latino voters feel betrayed by Trump’s advisers shows a coalition coming apart from within. The paper backs Salazar’s warning and wants the administration to heed it.
Key facts
- Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., warns President Trump that his administration’s immigration crackdown is fraying the GOP’s standing with Hispanic voters
- Exit polls indicated Trump beat then-Vice President Kamala Harris with Hispanic and Latino men in the 2024 contest
- 50,000 migrants detained in July, with half not having a rap sheet
- Salazar spent three decades at the Spanish-language network Telemundo before running for Congress
The pieces of her argument
- Salazar’s warning to Trump is direct — she wants him to preserve the Hispanic vote she built in 2024.
- She cut a stark ad arguing that Trump’s Latino voters feel betrayed by his advisers.
- She praised the Venezuela oil deal in her X post, after deleting an earlier critical post.
- She noted there is a difference between “narco and the nanny and the gangster and the gardener.”
- She told Trump that no other president convinced Hispanics to vote 55 points for a GOP candidate.
Salazar’s warning is a private one — she discussed these concerns with Trump in her conversation. She wants the administration to hold the line on American values. She wants Trump to remember what he built in 2024.
The midterm stakes are high, and Salazar believes they are at risk. Her warning is a call to action — and a call to guard what has been built.
Source material: “Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar warns Trump’s standing with Hispanics is slipping, faults advisers,” the New York Post.
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