GOP Rep. Salazar says she spoke with Trump and he is ‘very receptive’ to her warning about Hispanic voters

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GOP Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar Sunday said that President Donald Trump was “very receptive” to her warning that Hispanic voters feel “betrayed” by his immigration agenda ahead of the midterm elections.

The Florida Republican told CBS’ “Face The Nation” that she had a “very good conversation” with the president after releasing a campaign ad Thursday featuring her dire message that “some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far.”

“He was a gentleman, very courteous, very receptive,” Salazar said Sunday, adding that she told Trump, “You have this moment in history where you can keep the pot of gold that you brought to the GOP in 2024.”

A White House official confirmed to CNN that Salazar and the president spoke by phone but didn’t elaborate on the conversation.

The Miami-area congresswoman said she emphasized to Trump her desire to maintain Republican power in Washington in order to stave off the “very big threat” of socialism.

Salazar represents a majority Hispanic district in South Florida that voted for Trump by nearly 15 points in 2024. Recent polls have shown a portion of that voting demographic straying from the president as his overall approval rating sinks.

Pressed on her break from the Trump administration’s approach to immigration enforcement, Salazar told CBS that the topic “very toxic” and said the “average American” wants some kind of immigration reform.

In her ad, Salazar highlights statistics she said show that 50% of the people detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in July “had no criminal record.”

“The average American understands the difference between the narco and the nanny and the gangster and the gardener,” she said Sunday.

Despite the president’s previous aggressive rhetoric about deportation, Salazar argued Trump “gets it” because of his background in construction and hospitality.

“He’s a businessman, and he has the political ability to convince both parties to vote for this legislation or any immigration reform,” she said, referring to a bipartisan bill she has introduced that provides some undocumented immigrants without criminal records a renewable period of legal status.

Salazar reiterated her concern that some of Trump’s advisers are “compromising his legacy” on the issue of immigration, though she wouldn’t elaborate on who she was talking about.

“It’s my duty not to attack. There are no attacks here. They’re just for warning 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,” she said.

Trump made clear Friday that he disagreed with Salazar’s message, telling reporters, “I’m very strong on the borders, and she isn’t” and taking credit for her political success.

“Maria won only because of me,” he said, adding “she got a little bit soft on the border. I understand that. I understand that, but I just don’t happen to be there.”

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Sunday on ABC, that “even amongst Republicans, we have disagreements on how to actually get to the secure border that we have and how to handle the interior problems that we still have, that were created by Joe Biden.”

Scalise said he did not agree with Salazar that Hispanic voters who gravitated to Trump in past elections feel betrayed.

“I love Maria, and we’ve talked,” he said, explaining the issue they’re grappling with is “how do you then reestablish a sense of law and order in America and get back to the rule of law, which, by the way, most Hispanics wanted and voted for in 2024.”

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共和党众议员玛丽亚·埃尔维拉·萨拉萨尔周日表示，唐纳德·特朗普总统“非常重视”她的警告，即在即将到来的中期选举中，他的移民政策让西班牙裔选民感到“被背叛”。

这位佛罗里达州共和党人告诉哥伦比亚广播公司“面对国家”节目，在周四发布了一则竞选广告后，她与总统进行了“非常好的谈话”。该广告中，她发出严厉警告：“你们的一些移民执法行动做得太过分了。”

萨拉扎尔周日表示：“他是一位绅士，非常有礼貌，非常乐于接受意见。”她还补充说，她告诉特朗普：“你现在正处于历史的关键时刻，你可以把你在2024年带给共和党的这笔财富保留下来。”

一位白宫官员向 CNN 证实，萨拉查和总统通了电话，但没有详细说明谈话内容。

这位来自迈阿密地区的国会女议员表示，她向特朗普强调了她希望保持共和党在华盛顿的权力，以抵御社会主义的“巨大威胁”。

萨拉扎尔代表南佛罗里达州一个以西班牙裔为主的选区，该选区在2024年大选中以近15个百分点的优势投票支持特朗普。最近的民调显示，随着特朗普整体支持率的下降，该选民群体中有一部分人开始疏远这位总统。

当被问及为何反对特朗普政府的移民执法方式时，萨拉扎尔告诉哥伦比亚广播公司，这个话题“非常敏感”，并表示“普通美国人”希望进行某种移民改革。

萨拉扎尔在她的广告中强调了一些统计数据，她说这些数据表明，7 月份被美国移民和海关执法局拘留的人中有 50% “没有犯罪记录”。

“普通美国人都能分辨毒贩和保姆，以及黑帮分子和园丁，”她周日说道。

尽管总统之前对驱逐出境发表了咄咄逼人的言论，但萨拉扎尔认为，特朗普“理解这一点”，因为他有建筑和酒店行业的背景。

“他是一位商人，而且他有能力说服两党投票支持这项立法或任何移民改革，”她说道，她指的是她提出的一项两党法案，该法案为一些没有犯罪记录的无证移民提供可续签的合法身份期限。

萨拉扎尔重申了她对特朗普的一些顾问在移民问题上“损害其政治遗产”的担忧，但她没有详细说明她指的是谁。

“我的职责是不进行攻击。这里不存在任何攻击。我只是想提醒他，作为南佛罗里达地区的国会议员，他的一些顾问并没有提供全部事实，”她说。

特朗普周五明确表示，他不同意萨拉查的观点，他告诉记者：“我在边境问题上非常强硬，而她（萨拉查）却不是”，并将她的政治成功归功于自己。

“玛丽亚能赢全靠我，”他说，“她对边境问题有点心软。我理解，我明白，但我恰好不在那里。”

众议院多数党领袖史蒂夫·斯卡利斯周日在ABC电视台表示，“即使在共和党内部，我们也对如何真正实现我们所拥有的安全边境以及如何处理我们仍然存在的、由乔·拜登造成的内部问题存在分歧。”

斯卡利斯表示，他不同意萨拉查的观点，即在过去的选举中倾向于特朗普的西班牙裔选民感到被背叛。

“我爱玛丽亚，我们谈过了，”他说，并解释说他们正在努力解决的问题是“如何在美国重建法律和秩序，回归法治，顺便说一句，大多数西班牙裔选民在2024年都希望并投票支持了法治。”