Florida Rep. María Elvira Salazar told the Wall Street Journal that President Trump makes a mistake by deporting people to Cuba and Venezuela, according to a February 20, 2026 interview that generated significant backlash from right-wing commentators.
When asked directly whether she supports the administration's ongoing deportations of people to Cuba and Venezuela, Salazar responded unequivocally. "Of course not. That's a mistake. We should not be doing that."
Salazar has repeatedly stated the United States should "kick out every criminal here illegally" and praised Trump's deportation of Tren de Aragua gang members to El Salvador, according to reporting by WLRN. In effect, she supports mass migration, albeit with milquetoast restrictive measures directed against criminals.
This represents part of an ongoing intra-Republican fight, particularly among South Florida's Cuban American GOP delegation. Salazar, along with Representatives Carlos Gimenez and Mario Díaz Balart, has pushed back on Trump's immigration enforcement since early 2025, arguing it sweeps up law abiding people alongside actual criminals.
In the February 2026 Wall Street Journal interview, Salazar went further, warning that Trump's deportation policies are putting the GOP's House majority at risk heading into midterms by alienating Hispanic voters.
She also promoted her signature legislative proposal, the Dignity Act, which would create a non-citizenship legal status for long-term illegal aliens who pay fines and meet certain conditions. In effect, she is promoting amnesty by other means.
Salazar's position does create genuine tension with the Trump base, which views any resistance to mass deportation as insufficiently supportive of the president's agenda.
The congresswoman urged the Department of Homeland Security to protect paroled Cubans and Venezuelans who entered through the Biden era CHNV humanitarian parole program, asylum seekers with pending cases, and Cubans eligible for the Cuban Adjustment Act, according to her office.
South Florida Republicans have scrambled for solutions after Trump targeted Venezuelan immigrants, creating political complications in heavily Hispanic districts. All told, Salazar is no friend of the America First immigration restriction agenda.
Florida voters must replace María Elvira Salazar with a representative committed to comprehensive immigration restriction rather than her moderate stance that prioritizes legal pathways and protections for millions of migrants aka amnesty. At a time when America's demographic integrity faces existential threats and American workers struggle in economically precarious conditions, the last thing they need is a pro-mass migration politician like Salazar continuing to advocate for policies that undermine border security, enable continued illegal immigration through humanitarian loopholes, and create permanent legal status for millions who entered unlawfully regardless of the economic and cultural costs to American citizens.
