I live in Florida, where deportations have ramped up. Governor DeSantis is working with ICE and the federal government, and the process has been unusually efficient.
With that efficiency has come a flood of sob stories.
They usually go like this: the parents have been here a decade or more. They work hard. They’re kind. Maybe they even go to the same church. They came for economic opportunity and found it. People who work hard in America generally do well. That’s the beauty of this country.
The kids are in school and thriving. Florida public schools aren’t allowed to ask about citizenship. The kids play sports. They’re good neighbors.
They’re not really the people we meant to deport. Deporting them would be mean.
Here’s the problem. Either we are a country of laws, or we are not. If “nice people” here illegally are exempt, then the law is optional. You can say we’ll only deport criminals.
Fine. Then what stops the next “nice family” from overstaying a visa or crossing illegally, having a child here, and betting that we won’t touch them because they seem decent?
Those “nice people” are still breaking the law. They are in the country illegally. Their children consume a large share of local school resources. Once they have a U.S.-born child, they often gain access to welfare programs. They use emergency rooms for routine care that the rest of us pay for.
In Florida, many drive without licenses or insurance. When they crash, everyone else’s premiums go up.
Compassion for individual families is understandable. A functioning country still has to enforce the same rules for everyone.
If we only enforce the law against people we dislike, we don’t have immigration law. We have vibes.
NEW: Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) just rolled out a straight to camera ad breaking with Trump.
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) September 17, 2026
"Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far....The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today" pic.twitter.com/uxPeLaittt
Florida Republican Rep. María Elvira Salazar has been one of the most outspoken members of her party against the scope of current deportation efforts. She represents a heavily Hispanic Miami-area district and has gone so far as to address Trump by name in a recent campaign ad, telling him some enforcement “has gone too far” and that Hispanics who backed him in 2024 now feel betrayed. She is not against deporting criminals; she wants enforcement paired with a legal-status track (not citizenship) for long-settled, non-criminal immigrants.
On the second point: “Supported Trump in 2024” is usually shorthand for voted for him. Only citizens can legally vote. Non-citizens can still express support — through donations, volunteering, public statements, or family and community networks — but they cannot cast a ballot. If someone is claiming non-citizens “supported” him in the electoral sense, that claim needs to specify what they actually mean.
Trump should have never endorsed her re-election https://t.co/HV5OZOxH7C
— Ryan James Girdusky (@RyanGirdusky) September 17, 2026
Either we are a nation of laws that apply to all people or throw open the borders and cross your fingers only 'nice' people walk across the border.
