Florida state Sen. Ileana Garcia (R), co-founder of Latinas for Trump, issued a sharp rebuke of President Trump on Sunday as his administration seeks to ramp up deportations and other actions against migrants without legal status.
Garcia took particular issue with reported tactics in southern Florida, where immigration officials have allegedly been making arrests in immigration courts and taking other steps to target individuals otherwise in compliance with legal orders.
“This is not what we voted for,” Garcia wrote in a post on the social platform X. “I have always supported Trump, @realDonaldTrump, through thick and thin. However, this is unacceptable and inhumane.”
“I understand the importance of deporting criminal aliens, but what we are witnessing are arbitrary measures to hunt down people who are complying with their immigration hearings—in many cases, with credible fear of persecution claims—all driven by a Miller-like desire to satisfy a self-fabricated deportation goal,” she continued in her post, referring to White House homeland security adviser and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.
“This undermines the sense of fairness and justice that the American people value,” Garcia added.
The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.
Garcia’s comments followed criticism from Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), who issued a statement saying she’s “fully aware” of and “heartbroken … because of the recent immigration actions of the administration.”
She said the administration’s actions have “left thousands exposed to deportation” and jeopardized “our duty to due process that every democracy must guarantee.”
Salazar said anyone with a pending asylum claim “deserves to go through the legal process,” noting that “it is an indisputable fact” that most of these claims come from people who fled Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, which Salazar noted are “the three most brutal regimes in our hemisphere and sworn enemies of the United States.”
“I wholeheartedly agree that the administration must kick out every criminal here illegally, just as President Trump promised. Many still remain, and we should keep our focus on them,” Salazar added, noting that she plans to meet with administration officials this coming week.
Garcia issued her statement in response to Salazar’s remarks, saying, “I stand with Congresswoman Salazar.”
“As the state senator who represents her district and the daughter of Cuban refugees, who are now just as American, if not more so than Stephen Miller, I am deeply disappointed by these actions. And I will not stand down,” Garcia wrote.
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