Trump faces 2026 warning as Hispanic Republicans split on immigration policy

President Donald Trump is getting fresh clues that his support from Hispanic voters may be slipping after two House Republicans broke with him on immigration enforcement.Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) and Monica De La Cruz (R-TX), two Hispanic members of the House GOP conference, released advertisements over the past week distancing themselves from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its mass deportation operation.De La Cruz highlighted her advocacy on behalf of a wrongfully deported DACA recipient. The commercial features the wife of that immigrant and touts De La Cruz as someone who puts “people over politics.” Salazar, meanwhile, was more direct in her advertisement, warning in a video recorded in front of the White House that some of Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts have “gone too far” and that his administration has “betrayed” the Hispanic voters who supported the president in the 2024 election.De La Cruz and Salazar did not respond to requests for comment.Polls have subsequently shown that Trump is underperforming with the demographic, a pivotal voting bloc that could decide battleground races in places such as Texas and Florida. His handling of the economy is also rated as a top priority for Latino voters, who swung toward Republicans in the last election and almost evenly split their ballots between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.Mike Madrid, a Republican Trump critic and author of The Latino Century, called the lawmakers’ efforts to create daylight with Trump a “massive five-alarm fire.”“They wouldn’t be doing this unless it was dire,” Madrid said. “Like, this is not a small pivot. This is not a nuance.” The ads are airing after a Cook Political Report-TelevisaUnivision survey found that nearly two-thirds of Hispanic Texas voters would be less likely to support a candidate who backs Trump’s deportation policies. De La Cruz represents a predominantly Hispanic district in South Texas that Trump won by 18 percentage points. But she is locked in a tight race against Tejano musician Bobby Pulido. Salazar, who represents a large Hispanic community in Miami and its suburbs in South Florida, is facing former CBS Miami anchor Eliott Rodriguez in the general election. Trump won Salazar’s district by 14 percentage points in 2024; however, in 2020, that margin was much narrower, with Trump winning the district by only 0.2 percentage points.Following her advertisement, Trump told reporters that Salazar “won only because of me.”“I’m very strong on the borders, and she isn’t,” Trump said. “She got a little bit soft on the border. I understand that, but I just don’t happen to be there.”Salazar has been a vocal advocate for immigrant communities and an outspoken critic of mass deportations, having championed a controversial immigration reform bill this Congress.Her bill, the DIGNIDAD Act, would provide a pathway to legal status for millions of illegal immigrants who have lived in the United States for more than five years and can pass a criminal background check.Still, Trump re-upped his support for De La Cruz in a post on Truth Social, saying in a video that she is a “champion for law and order and is fighting to keep our borders safe and secure.”The break from the two Hispanic members is a warning sign for Republicans heading into the general election, as a national poll from Equis Research shows his approval rating among Latinos at just 31%, with 63% disapproving. Also weighing on Hispanic and Latino voters, however, is the cost of living. According to the Equis Research poll, Trump’s approval on the economy is at a net negative of 45 points.