President Trump said Friday that he still supports Rep. María Elvira Salazar’s reelection bid, days after the Florida Republican released a campaign video outside the White House criticizing his administration’s immigration enforcement, according to The Gateway Pundit.
Salazar, a Miami-area Republican, used the ad to argue that enforcement efforts have overshot their targets. In the video, she claimed that “50 percent of the 50,000 people that were detained had no criminal record” and said that Hispanic voters who backed Trump in 2024 now “feel betrayed,” waving a finger at the camera as she delivered the rebuke.
“Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far,” she said in the ad.
The claim that half of detained immigrants have no criminal record has since been picked up by Democrats and left-leaning outlets as a cudgel against the administration and Republican candidates in races around the country, according to the outlet.
Salazar has previously pushed back on deportation efforts with the “Dignidad Act,” a mass amnesty proposal that would grant work visas and a permanent path to citizenship to what she described as “over 10 million people, or more” living in the country illegally.
Trump: ‘I Won Because of My Border’
Speaking Friday, Trump said he understands Salazar’s position even as he disagrees with it. He described his immigration stance as a movement that “probably, at least partially, won the election,” and contrasted his record with the Biden administration, saying “25 million people poured in from prisons, from mental institutions, drug dealers, murderers,” including nearly 12,000 documented murderers.
“She obviously doesn’t have a very strong feeling for the border, but I do, and I understand what she’s saying, but I have a very strong— I won because of my border,” Trump said.
The president also noted that Salazar’s path to Congress ran through his endorsement, which he suggested was the reason she was elected in the first place. Even so, he said, “I’m very strong on the borders, and she isn’t, and she’s a nice person.”
“She got a little bit soft on the border,” Trump added. “I understand that. I understand that, but I just don’t happen to be there.”
Trump’s decision to keep his endorsement intact, despite the public criticism, reflects the political reality of Salazar’s district. She is running against a Democrat in November, and the president’s backing is likely to remain a significant asset in a general election setting. That dynamic, the outlet noted, may be why Salazar waited until after she had secured the Republican nomination to go public with her criticism of the administration’s immigration policy.
The split over immigration highlights a broader tension within the Republican coalition, pitting the president’s base, which has made border enforcement a central priority, against swing-district Republicans who sometimes favor a softer posture on the issue. For now, Trump’s response suggests he is willing to tolerate that disagreement — at least publicly — while continuing to press his enforcement agenda.
Source: www.thegatewaypundit.com — https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/09/video-trump-responds-rino-maria-salazars-demands-stop/