Watch: Trump’s Deportations Are Tearing Apart Florida Communities

Mother Jones Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily. You might have seen the viral campaign ad. Last month, Rep. María Elvira Salazar—a Miami Republican endorsed by Donald Trump—launched a TV commercial criticizing the president’s mass-deportation campaign. “Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far,” she warned, speaking directly into the camera. “Be careful what your advisers are telling you about immigration policy. The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.” Salazar’s ad was one of the most public signs of the brewing anger in Florida over Trump’s draconian deportation policies. Her “district is among those with the highest percentage of Latino voters in the US,” notes Mother Jones’ Laura Morel, “and many experts view this race as a test of how far Trump’s popularity has cratered with the Latino community.” So what’s causing the backlash in the Sunshine State? In late August, journalist Amanda Moore traveled traveled to southwest Florida—a couple hours from Salazar’s district—to report on a surge of ICE and Border Patrol agents in the area. What she found was less dramatic than the heavily militarized immigration operations the Trump administration has carried out in Minnesota, Illinois, and elsewhere in the country. But the consequences have been every bit as devastating. In contrast to the message in Salazar’s recent ad, Republican officials across Florida have cooperated closely with Trump’s deportation campaign. As Moore notes in a new video for Mother Jones, this cooperation has helped ICE arrest hundreds of people in Florida per day. Give it a watch. With the help of Republican officials, ICE has quietly arrested hundreds of people in Florida per day. Video by Amanda Moore, produced by Anna Yeo