Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) said on Sunday she had a “very good conversation” with President Donald Trump after she released an advertisement attacking his anti-immigration policies last week.
While speaking with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation, Salazar, who represents a largely Hispanic, Miami-area district, said Trump was “very courteous” and “very receptive” during the conversation. She released a campaign advertisement on Thursday that argued the White House had “gone too far” in its enforcement of immigration policy and that the large Hispanic voting bloc that helped Trump win the 2024 presidential election was souring on Republicans.
“Sir, you have this moment in history where you can keep the pot of gold that you brought to the GOP in 2024,” she said. “No other president, and you know, I covered for 35 years Spanish television, no other president was able to convince the Hispanics to vote 55 [percentage] points for a GOP president. Please, preserve that fortune that you have brought to the party. Why? Because we need to continue winning elections because we have this very big threat called the socialists on the Democrat side.”
Salazar argued Trump is uniquely qualified to lead on “the very toxic topic” due to his business background, rebutting Brennan’s assertion he doesn’t understand “the difference between the narco and the nanny, and the gangster and the grandma” like the “average American” does.
“He is a construction and hospitality guy — he gets it more than anybody. And I told him during our conversation, you could fix this mess that has been happening for 40 years. He’s the only person because he gets it, because he’s a businessman.”
Brennan also mentioned how the advertisement said his advisers were giving him bad advice, listing off Stephen Miller, border czar Tom Homan, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin as three members of the administration with notably strong anti-immigration stances. Salazar said regardless of the advice he receives from other members of the administration, “he is the only elected official in the White House,” so he must choose his own strategy. “Look what you did — don’t squander it,” she said.
“I think that some of his advisers are compromising his legacy, and it’s my duty. There are no attacks here; I’m just forewarning him, and advising him, as a member of Congress from the South Florida area, that some of his advisers are just not presenting the whole picture.”
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“I belong to the Miami community; I’m the daughter of political refugees; I’m a first-generation American,” she noted. “And I want to preserve the American values that are entrenched in the GOP and that the Hispanics share. So remember, sir, that you are the only guy who can do this.”
Salazar has been speaking out against mass deportations throughout her reelection campaign. Trump won her district by 14 percentage points in 2024 after winning by a margin of less than one percentage point in 2020. He defended and retained his endorsement for her on Friday, saying, “She got a little bit soft on the border,” but is a “nice person.”