Florida state Sen. Ileana Garcia (R), co-founder of Latinas for Trump, blasted President Trump’s immigration crackdown, warning he “will lose the midterms” because of White House adviser Stephen Miller.
“I do think that he will lose the midterms because of Stephen Miller,” Garcia told The New York Times in an interview published Tuesday.
Though Garcia was openly supportive of Trump’s plans to close the border, she placed blame on Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, for the aggressive tactics used during the current crackdown.
Her comments come after federal agents in Minneapolis over the weekend shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti amid a protest against the administration’s immigration action, weeks after an ICE officer shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good in the city earlier this month.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Pretti “attacked” federal law enforcement, while Miller described Pretti as “a would-be assassin” who “tried to murder federal law enforcement.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday distanced Trump from those remarks, saying she had not heard the president “characterize Mr. Pretti in that way” and deferring to the investigation.
“Distorting, politicizing, slandering – justifying what happened to Alex Pretti contradicts the American values the administration campaigned on. He was neither a domestic terrorist nor an assassin,” Garcia wrote in a Monday post on the social platform X, responding to Miller’s characterization of the incident.
“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!” she continued.
Garcia, who rallied support from Latina voters to help get Trump elected in 2016 and served in Trump’s Department of Homeland Security during his first term, has blasted what she last year called “inhumane” tactics to meet deportation goals.
Her comments mark the latest sign of growing frustration with Trump’s immigration handling as fallout from the Minnesota shootings grows, as observers warn the issue could have a lingering impact on November’s high-stakes midterms.
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