The GOP could be in danger of turning away Latino voters, who helped boost President Donald Trump back into the White House, if the White House’s immigration enforcement strategy doesn’t shift following the second death of an anti-ICE protester in Minnesota.
Hispanic lawmakers and experts are warning the White House that the aggressive tactics of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to crack down on illegal immigration will further erode Latino voters at precisely the moment the GOP needs to keep them in their coalition to retain control of both chambers of Congress in November.
“Hispanics are leaving the GOP in large numbers, and pretending otherwise won’t fix it. As Republicans, we must reverse course and act now,” cautioned Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL).
Salazar also pushed for ICE to focus on “real threats to public safety, not hardworking people who are here contributing.”
Our outdated immigration laws are tearing our country apart. Congress must act, NOW. pic.twitter.com/UkJznqu4Vr
— María Elvira Salazar
(@MaElviraSalazar) January 27, 2026
Ileana Garcia, a co-founder of Latinas for Trump, explicitly blamed Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy, for the hardcore immigration tactics that helped lead to Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse, being fatally shot by Border Patrol agents over the weekend.
“I do think that he will lose the midterms because of Stephen Miller,” Garcia said about the president in an interview with the New York Times.
“We should not be afraid as a party to speak up, to course correct,” she said.
Polling appears to support the warning signs. A new Reuters/Ipsos poll found that Trump’s immigration policy dropped to its lowest level, with 53% of the public disapproving and 39% approving.
A recent poll from the New York Times/Siena showed that Latino voters were more likely to name immigration as the most important problem in the nation compared to black or white voters, although they saw the economy as more important. Latino voters also disapproved of ICE tactics at nearly 70%, and 72% said ICE tactics had gone too far. But they were split on Trump’s handling of the border.
“There is a bit of a sense of disappointment amongst Latino voters about Trump’s actions, about the actions of ICE in various cities in the country, in ways that have really kind of I think put in a lot of doubt for voters … even amongst voters who supported Trump in the 2024 election,” said Roger Cadena, a sociologst at the University of North Carolina Wilmington who studies Latino political identities.
Katie Miller, Stephen Miller’s wife, dismissed Garcia’s comments on social media. “Ileana was fired from DHS in Trump’s first term because she failed to show up to work,” she wrote.
Garcia shot back at Miller, taunting her to “Invite me to your podcast so we can have a candid discussion about what truly transpired and how you labeled your then-boyfriend a racist when you were upset that he treated you poorly and me as a mere token Hispanic for the administration.”
Alfonso Aguilar, a longtime Hispanic Republican activist and former Chief of the U.S. Office of Citizenship under former President George W. Bush, told the Washington Examiner, “It’s way too early to make any definitive conclusions” about Latino voters.
“I think that what the administration needs to do, and this is a good opportunity, is to really step up their communication efforts,” Aguilar said. “And communicate better what their policies are, how they’re executing the policies, how really they’re going primarily after people who have violent — who’ve committed violent crimes. I think that hasn’t happened.”
Similarly, Joseph Vargas, a veteran Texas GOP consultant who does Hispanic outreach, said Texas voters have told him the White House should have been prepared for backlash from anti-ICE Democrats with savvy messaging.
“Because this is a tactic that you always see. It’s a tactic that they’re always going to appeal to the emotion of the people to try to dominate policy,” he said, alluding to the deaths of Pretti and 37-year-old Renee Good. “They’re going to create a narrative to try to shame people into compliance. Now, should that affect the midterms? I think it’s all about messaging.”
Democrats have repeatedly slammed ICE tactics, including entering churches and homes to locate and deport illegal immigrants, as well as questioning suspects about their immigration status, as examples of the administration going too far.
Democrats have also threatened to shut down the government unless funding for immigration enforcement is stripped out of a must-pass appropriations bill, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) laying out a three-point plan for negotiations on Wednesday.
Yet the White House defended Trump’s “historic support from Latino voters in the 2024 election based on his promises to enforce our immigration laws, deport criminal illegal aliens, and tackle Joe Biden’s inflation crisis,” in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“He is now fulfilling those promises – the border is secure, dangerous illegal criminals are being removed from American communities, and he is working tirelessly to cut the Biden-era price hikes,” Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said. “President Trump has consistently outperformed the mainstream media’s so-called polling, and he will continue doing so by delivering for everyday Americans.”
Trump has attempted to course correct in Minnesota by deputizing border czar Tom Homan to meet with Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) and Democratic Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to tone down the violence. Trump also told reporters that he did not think Pretti was acting like an assassin, contradicting Miller’s previous comments about the killing.
But some conservatives slammed the tactics as a “retreat” and have rejected any form of amnesty to allow legalization of U.S. citizenship for those who have entered the U.S. illegally.
GOP SPLIT OVER WHETHER TRUMP’S DE-ESCALATION EFFORTS IN MINNESOTA IS A ‘RETREAT’
“President Trump and conservative majorities in Congress were elected to end the scourge of mass migration on our country, not to enable more of it and reward those whose first act on American soil was to violate our laws,” the Heritage Foundation posted on social media, rejecting Rep. Mike Lawler’s (R-NY) argument for a legal path forward. “No amnesty proposal should ever see the light of day.”
Aguilar pushed for a middle ground between Miller’s harsh enforcement strategy and legalization. “I think it’s the path that probably President Trump aligns with, of strong enforcement and recognizing that immigrants contribute to the country,” he said.
But political experts remain doubtful that any sort of legislation will pass through Congress after the GOP opportunity report following Mitt Romney’s loss to former President Barack Obama in 2012 did not lead to meaningful legislation being passed on immigration.
“I don’t see it happening,” Cadena, the sociologist, said. “If the bill were to succeed, would this improve Republicans’ opportunities, chances of continuing to keep their support amongst Latino voters, or even increase it? I don’t know. … I don’t think the last year has really endeared a lot of people to the Trump administration.”