MIAMI – At the heart of Little Havana neighborhood here, is Máximo Gómez Park, also known as Domino Park. Cuban Americans play games of dominos here to escape the pressures of daily life. But what started as a typical day at the park last week took a turn: Miami police arrested a player in the middle of a game after a dispute with a city worker.
It spurred other players to worry about deportations, setting off a broader political debate over whether President Trump or former President Biden was responsible for a higher cost of living. "It's Biden," said Alejandro Torres, a Republican voter. "It's Trump," responded Ricardo Carracedo, who plans to vote for Democrats in the midterm elections.
This same divide is playing out across Florida's 27th Congressional District, a Miami-Dade County seat that is more than 70% Latino. It is a warning for Republicans, whose 2024 wins relied heavily on this crucial electorate. That year, Trump cut Democrats' margin with Latino voters nationally to just three points – down from 25 points four years earlier, according to Pew Research Center.
Cuban Americans, the district's largest Latino group, have been reliable Trump supporters. But many of their friends and relatives have been swept up by the administration's deportation agenda. A crack among them could signal broader trouble for Latino support for Republican candidates.
María Elvira Salazar, a Cuban-American Republican in her third term, has been sounding the alarm. Last month, Salazar filmed a television ad in front of the White House warning President Trump that he's "gone too far" on immigration. "The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today," she said.
Trump hit back at Salazar after the ad. On his TruthSocial account, he shared a post in which another user called her a "back stabber." Salazar told NPR she didn't see the comments as attacks, saying she later spoke to the president. "I told him, 'You know, what I'm telling you is what my people are feeling,'" she said.
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