U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar R-Miami, said she had “a very courteous, very receptive” telephone conversation with President Donald Trump after she blasted his immigration enforcement policies in a campaign ad that drew national media attention.
In an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation with host Margaret Brennan, the Cuban-American lawmaker said she warned the president that his immigration enforcement tactics risk alienating Hispanic voters who helped propel his 2024 victory.
"I told him, 'Sir, you have this moment in history where you can keep the pot of gold that you brought to the GOP in 2024,'" Salazar said, pointing to historical shifts in Hispanic voting patterns toward the Republican Party. "Please preserve that fortune that you have brought to the party."
Nearly half of Hispanic voters backed Trump in 2024. He garnered 48% of Hispanic voters compared to 51% for Democrat Kamala Harris, according to the Pew Research Center. That was 12 points higher than in 2020.
Salazar characterized their phone exchange as "fantastic," describing Trump as "a gentleman, very courteous, very receptive."
“I told him during our conversation, you could fix this mess that has been happening for 40 years,” Salazar said referring to the failure in Congress to fix the nation's broken immigration system. “He has the political ability to convince both parties to vote for this legislation or any immigration reform.”
When pressed on whether Trump accepted her perspective or whether key administration personnel were steering enforcement strategies, Salazar didn’t name anyone but instead claimed unnamed White House advisers were giving the president incomplete advice and "compromising his legacy."
READ MORE: Trump says he supports Miami Congresswoman Salazar despite her ad slamming his immigration policy
"I am 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," Salazar said.
“I certainly hope he listened to what I was saying. But he listened,” Salazar told Brennan.,
“The average American understands the difference between the narco and the nanny and the gangster and the gardener,” Salazar in referring to undocumented immigrants here to work and those who commit crimes.
Asked if Trump understands the difference, Salazar said “the president does too.”
“And you know why? Because he had said it over the last two years that there are good people picking up the jalapeno peppers, working in agricultural, construction, hospitality, health care, and manufacturing,” she said. “He is a construction and hospitality guy. He gets it more than anybody."
Trump, in response to Salazar’s campaign ad, told reporters on Friday that he still supports her re-election but disagrees with the Miami Republican's opposition to his aggressive immigration policy.
“I’m very strong on the borders — and she isn't,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office after being asked about the campaign ad video condemning and torching his deportation agenda.
"She obviously doesn’t have a very strong feeling about the border. I do," Trump said.
Salazar's ad is running online and on TV in South Florida in Spanish and in English. The bilingual ad was released last Thursday with less than two months before the Nov. 3 election.
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Salazar, who is seeking her fourth two-year term in Congress, finds herself in a tightenin race against former CBS4 anchorman Eliott Rodriguez, the Democratic nominee for Florida’s 27th congressional district.
The non-partisan Cook Political Report has shifted the seat from "safe Republican" to a “likely Republican” seat, meaning the race has become more competitive.
"Though Salazar has a history of overperforming the top of the ticket, Trump’s sinking approval rating among Hispanic voters in South Florida will be an anchor on the congresswoman," writes the Cook Political Report.
The 27th congressional district includes Miami, Coral Gables, Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay. Almost three in four residents are Latino. Trump clobbered Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024 by 15 points, 57%-43%.
