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WASHINGTON, United States: US lawmakers from both parties attacked President Donald Trump\u2019s mass deportation drive Thursday, with a member of his own party warning that Hispanic voters who helped return him to the White House now \u201cfeel betrayed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMr President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far,\u201d Republican congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida said in a campaign video released weeks before November\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n
Salazar, whose Miami-area district is overwhelmingly Hispanic, said half of roughly 50,000 people detained in July had no criminal record and she urged Trump to reconsider advice he was receiving on immigration.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not talking about giving them amnesty. I\u2019m talking about giving them a dignified life in this promised land.\u201d<\/p>\n
Immigration enforcement could erode gains<\/strong><\/p>\n The unusually direct rebuke from a Republican comes as the party controlling Congress and the White House faces growing concern that aggressive immigration enforcement could erode gains the president made among Latino voters in 2024.<\/p>\n Trump endorsed Salazar earlier this year, although the American former television journalist, who has Cuban heritage, has long advocated legal status for some undocumented immigrants.<\/p>\n Her intervention came hours before Democrats in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus accused the administration of inflicting both a human and economic toll through mass deportations.<\/p>\n At a Capitol Hill news conference with immigration advocacy group America\u2019s Voice, lawmakers blamed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement for rising costs associated with labor shortages – assailing what they called the \u201cICE tax.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cICE is an affordability issue. Everyone in this country is paying the ICE tax,\u201d caucus chairman Adriano Espaillat said, arguing that removing workers was pushing up the costs of food, construction and health care.<\/p>\n House Democrat Joaquin Castro of Texas said immigration raids were removing workers from industries including agriculture, construction and restaurants.<\/p>\n \u201cICE is killing the American economy,\u201d Castro said, pointing to businesses struggling to find workers and consumers paying higher prices.<\/p>\n California Democrat Gil Cisneros said labor shortages in his state had caused more than $3 billion in crop losses and driven produce prices higher.<\/p>\n Trump campaigned on carrying out the largest deportation operation in US history and has sharply expanded arrests since returning to office.<\/p>\n But Salazar\u2019s warning highlighted the political tension for Republicans representing large Hispanic communities as enforcement moves beyond immigrants accused of serious crimes.<\/p>\n \u201cBe careful what your advisors are telling you about immigration policy,\u201d she told Trump.<\/p>\n The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n