Republicans are losing Hispanics and, in Miami, Latino voters may learn a lesson

Opinion admin September 24, 2026 0 Comments

Republicans are losing Hispanics and, in Miami, Latino voters may learn a lesson | Opinion

First, second and third-generation immigrants finally seem to be understanding that, to President Donald Trump, immigration enforcement was never about differentiating between those who came to this country “the right way” and those who didn’t.

Trump’s approval rating among Hispanic voters has fallen to the 20s, and a recent New York Times/Siena poll estimates Democrats have a 35-point advantage among Hispanic likely voters on a generic congressional ballot. Mass deportations are not the only factor dragging Republicans down — there’s also inflation. But Republicans running for office in Miami are feeling the heat from voters upset about the indiscriminate way ICE has been detaining people.

I wasn’t surprised when Latino support helped Trump return to the White House in 2024. Trump promised them he would end high prices. And having immigrant roots doesn’t have to make you sympathetic to illegal immigration. In many cases, when you believe you or your family came here the proper way, you are even more punitive of those you think are abusing the system.

As an immigrant who came here legally, I get that sentiment. But while many voters believed Trump would prioritize the deportations of people who committed crimes — a no-brainer — it’s been clear to me for a decade how Trump truly feels about all types of immigrants from less desirable parts of the world (aka anyone not from Europe.) But, somehow, he and his Miami acolytes managed to convince many voters with immigrant roots that people like them were special — no need to worry.

But are we truly that special? How many of us are researching the cure for cancer or starting Fortune 500 companies? Likely few. And that’s supposed to be OK — because America was built by working- and middle-class folks.

Now we see Trump touting his Trump Gold Card, green cards issued “in record time” — to wealthy foreigners who can afford a fee. Meanwhile, his administration is closing the pathways to legal immigration that many voters or their families once relied on. Legal immigration is expected to drop by 33-50% by the end of his second term, according to center-left think tank Third Way.

American immigration relies heavily on family reunification — U.S. citizens and green card holders sponsoring their immediate relatives — and there are also programs that allow people to come here based on skills or for humanitarian reasons.

In dismantling that system, the Trump administration has detained people — including spouses of U.S. citizens — at their immigration appointments, deported asylum seekers and revoked Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of Haitians and Venezuelans. He instituted country bans, struck down by a judge in August, that blocked immigration applications from places many of us came from, including Cuba, Haiti, Colombia and Brazil, where I was born.

Rather than the criminals Trump said he was going to deport, we see ourselves and our loved ones among those caught up in his mass deportations. Some Republicans are taking notice: Miami U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, who’s endorsed by Trump, recently released an ad publicly breaking with him on deportations.

My guess is that Salazar has seen polls that show her reelection bid in a Hispanic-majority district is hurt by the president she’s staunchly supported for years. Those voters may have given Trump the benefit of the doubt when he sent hundreds of migrants to a mega prison in El Salvador after dubiously labeling them as gang members.

But now deportations have hit too close to home.

For virtually every awful deportation in the news, the Trump administration has a response: that migrant had a 30-year-old record for smoking weed or overstayed a visa or the Biden administration shouldn’t have allowed them into the country at all.

But the reality is that not every immigrant with legal status today had the perfect immigration story Americans romanticize when talk about their ancestors arriving generations ago.

And now, we’re forced to confront a tough question: Would we still be here if we had immigrated when Trump was in office? Or would we be shackled and whisked off to a deportation plane?

Isadora Rangel is a member of the Herald Editorial Board.