A Miami Republican stood for immigrants targeted by Trump. Where are the others? | Opinion

Is there a line President Donald Trump must cross in his treatment of law-abiding immigrants before more elected officials of his party representing communities that have thrived thanks to immigration speak out, as Miami Republican U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar has recently done?

Salazar on Sunday joined a growing chorus of South Florida leaders who have decried the administration’s targeting of Cubans, Venezuelans, Haitians and other immigrants. Recently, a billboard along Interstate 95 featuring four civic leaders, among them Miami Dade College President Emeritus Eduardo Padrón, called on Miamians to defend “our immigrant neighbors.”

But that message is stronger when it comes from an elected Republican — especially one elected to Congress — in a county Trump carried by 11 points in 2024. Republicans can no longer ignore that Trump isn’t just going after criminals but is casting a wide net that’s catching immigrants who are following the rules.

Salazar, who’s Cuban-American and sponsored an immigration reform bill called the “Dignity Act,” issued a statement describing as “un-American” the Trump administration’s decision to order a pause of all immigration applications from nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela and other so-called “high risk” countries. The policy affects green card and citizenship applications and other immigration applications for people from 19 countries. All asylum claims have also been paused regardless of the applicant’s country of origin, the Herald reported. The directive was a response to the Nov. 26 shooting in Washington, D.C. of two National Guardsmen, allegedly by an Afghan man.

“Freezing asylum, green card, and citizenship processes is not the answer. It punishes hardworking, law-abiding immigrants who followed every step of the legal process,” Salazar wrote. “That is unfair, un-American, and it goes against everything this country stands for. Background checks already exist to stop terrorists and they should.”

The new policy has already inflicted unnecessary pain. Naturalization ceremonies in South Florida have been cancelled, several immigration attorneys told the Herald. The same appears to be happening across the country. In Boston, at least two immigrants were told to step out of line before they could pledge allegiance to the U.S., the Boston Globe reported.

These individuals have lived in the U.S. legally for years. However, they’re now being turned away in what seems to be Trump’s desire to leverage the tragedy in D.C. to target immigrants from “third world countries,” in the president’s own words.

Another Republican, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Rene Garcia, recently joined members of the Cuban American Bar Association in calling out the Trump administration for ignoring due process and detaining people at their immigration hearings.

“I’m seeing more and more cases in my office and of people who are saying, ‘This is my loved one, who had no criminal history, and now we don’t know where he is,’ No. 1, or, No. 2, has been deported or is in the process of being deported,” Garcia, a lawyer, told Channel 10 in late November.

We commend Garcia and Salazar, but they shouldn’t be part of a small group of vocal Republicans. The GOP has established political dominance in Miami-Dade; Republicans make up a majority of the county’s delegation in Congress and the Florida Legislature.

Now contrast what Salazar wrote to the statement her fellow Miami Republican congressmen issued after the Trump administration halted immigration applications.

“President Trump inherited a number of problems, including a broken immigration system made worse by the Biden Administration. President Trump is protecting national security by restoring order, enforcing the rule of law, and strengthening vetting. That leadership is saving American lives,” U.S. Reps. Carlos Gimenez and Mario Diaz-Balart wrote on Dec. 3.

The two congressmen have in the past spoken in favor of immigrant protections, in particular Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans, and Balart has long advocated for immigration reform. But their latest statement, issued as people are reportedly being pulled out of their citizenship ceremonies, rings tone-deaf when it’s been almost a year since Biden left office.

We cannot ignore the political realities that must weigh heavily on Miami Republicans. Salazar’s District 27 is not as solidly red as the districts of Gimenez and Diaz-Balart, pushing her toward the political middle. But this should not be the moment for electoral calculations. More Republicans must speak up.

This story was originally published December 9, 2025 at 3:15 PM.