Hard-line border policy

Unlikely to cost Trump in Miami-Dade, a community of immigrants

Former President Donald Trump’s hard-line rhetoric on immigration appears unlikely to cost him or the GOP much support among Florida’s Hispanic voters in November. It might even help them.

With Republicans accusing President Joe Biden and his administration of failing to enforce basic immigration laws and secure the U.S. southern border, the issue of immigration is particularly complicated in MiamiDade, where more than half of the county’s residents were born abroad.

Although Hispanic voters nationally are more likely to side with Democrats on immigration, a notable number of Florida’s Hispanic voters — many of whom are immigrants themselves — see illegal immigration as a pervasive problem for the U.S., according to public polling. That could help Republicans win over even more support in a voter-rich part of Florida that has shifted rightward in recent years, or at least minimize any damage.

A recent survey of Hispanic voters in 22 states conducted by Florida International

University and the marketing firm Adsmovil found that almost half (45%) of Hispanic voters in the U.S. believe Democrats have the best handle on immigration issues, with just 29% saying that Republicans are better on the issue. But when the survey asked the same question of Florida’s Hispanic voters, the results were flipped.

“There’s this perception among those that are here that the boat is full,” Eduardo Gamarra, a political science professor at FIU who led the university’s poll, said Thursday night during a Hispanic voter town hall hosted at the university by the Miami Herald and news partners. “Will someone pull the ladder up?”

Gamarra’s survey also found that, both nationally and in Florida, Hispanic voters are most likely to identify immigration and “open borders” as the biggest threat to the country’s national security.

Another panelist at Thursday’s town hall, Irina Vilariño, whose family launched the popular Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine chain of restaurants after coming to the U.S. during a mass wave of Cubans in 1980, agreed that Miami’s Hispanic voters are worried about the

CARL JUSTE cjuste@miamiherald.com CARL JUSTE cjuste@miamiherald.com From left, panelists Irina Vilariño, Jose Dante Parra, Dr. Eduardo Gamarra, Ninoska Perez and Fernand Amandi participate in a conversation about the Hispanic vote during the upcoming presidential election, at a town hall in the Graham Center at FIU during a live broadcast on Thursday. Eliott Rodriguez, an anchor at CBS 4, poses questions about the Hispanic vote to panelists during the town hall at FIU on Thursday.