Florida state senator Ileana Garcia, a supporter of President Donald Trump, has pleaded with the GOP to end the "abhorrent" ICE arrests.
In an interview with The New York Times, published on Tuesday (January 27), the Cuban-American politician discussed concerns that Republicans will lose this year's midterms if there isn't a crackdown on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests. The story also detailed that Garcia, co-founder of the coalition Latinas for Trump, was questioned about whether she was a naturalized American citizen when overheard speaking Spanish at a Tallahassee airport. Garcia was born in Miami.
The Florida senator also explained that her worries regarding ICE stem from officers killing two Minneapolis residents, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, this month alone.
"We should not be afraid as a party to speak up, to course correct," Garcia told NYT, adding that she was "dumbfounded" by the government’s framing of Pretti as a "domestic terrorist."
"It’s gone too far," Garcia said. "What happened Saturday was abhorrent."
Garcia advocated for Trump as far back as his 2016 presidential campaign and after Latinas for Trump was established, she relocated to Washington, D.C. and worked for the public affairs office of the Department of Homeland Security. The politician now says that U.S. Homeland Security Adviser Stephen Miller is to blame for ICE's violent deportation tactics.
"I do think that he will lose the midterms because of Stephen Miller, Garcia said.
The senator's change of heart drew backlash on social media, with some implying she’s a hypocrite after her past support of Trump.
After the article was published, Garcia claimed to have been a victim of doxxing and insinuated that Miller was behind it.