Mario Diaz-Balart Says Immigration 'Overreach' Hurt Republicans as ICE Deportations Hit a Record

U.S. Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart, the dean of Florida's congressional delegation, says the Trump administration's immigration enforcement went too far and cost Republicans at the polls, an assessment shaped by his own near loss in a South Florida district where he usually wins in a landslide. His comments came as new federal figures show U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported a record number of people in the fiscal year that just ended.

"The overreach on enforcement has been very detrimental," the Hialeah Republican told Florida Politics at the U.S. Capitol. "It's been detrimental to parts of our economy, and it's been and it was reflective, I think, in these elections. And so, I don't think that can be denied."

A record year for ICE

ICE deported 483,200 people in fiscal year 2026, which ended Sept. 30, according to Department of Homeland Security figures obtained by CBS News. That is the highest annual total in the agency's reported history, above the previous record of 442,640 in fiscal 2025 and nearly 78% higher than the 271,484 deportations in fiscal 2024, the last full fiscal year under President Joe Biden.

ICE also reported more than 491,000 immigration arrests in the fiscal year, including nearly 475,000 administrative arrests for civil immigration violations rather than criminal charges, another record. The agency made 50,925 arrests in August alone, CBS reported.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin celebrated the totals. "Fiscal Year 2026 saw the highest number of ICE deportations and arrests for any year in ICE's history," he said in a statement.

Other data complicate the picture. A CBS News analysis found that in July 2026, for the first time in Trump's second term, more than half of ICE arrests involved people with neither criminal convictions nor pending charges. The Migration Policy Institute found that only about 20% of roughly 980,000 deportations by ICE and Customs and Border Protection between January 2025 and July 2026 involved someone with a criminal conviction.

Díaz-Balart's narrow escape

Díaz-Balart has typically won re-election by double digits, including by about 42 points two years ago under the previous district lines, Florida Politics reported. This year, in a redrawn 26th Congressional District covering parts of Miami-Dade and Broward counties, he finished with a lead of 1,702 votes out of 229,804 cast over Democrat Nicole Locklin, 49.86% to 49.12%, according to the state Division of Elections tally cited by WLRN on Nov. 9.

The Associated Press called the race for Díaz-Balart that afternoon. Locklin said that day that she would not concede and called for every ballot to be counted. "The race for Florida's 26th Congressional District is not over," she said in a campaign statement.

Díaz-Balart was not the only South Florida Republican to come close to losing. In the 27th District, U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar led Democrat Eliott Rodriguez by 1,090 votes, or 0.44 percentage points, inside the margin that triggers an automatic machine recount, which was scheduled to begin Monday, according to the Florida Phoenix report carried by WLRN. U.S. Rep. Carlos Giménez won re-election easily in the 28th District.

Latino voters moved

A post-election poll released Tuesday by UnidosUS found Florida Latino voters backed Democratic U.S. House candidates 57% to 41%, an eight-point gain over Kamala Harris's 49% share among the state's Latino voters in 2024. In the governor's race, Democrat David Jolly won 53% of the Latino vote to 41% for Republican Byron Donalds, who won statewide 50% to 49%, the poll found.

Immigration enforcement was a factor. The poll found 81% of Florida Latino voters said ICE actions have gone over the line, including 78% of Cuban American voters, the state's largest Latino group. Cost of living and inflation ranked as the top concern, at 59%. Nationally, 58% of midterm voters said the administration's immigration enforcement had gone too far, according to CBS News exit polling.

Florida Republicans split on the lesson

Not every Florida Republican agrees with Díaz-Balart. Gov. Ron DeSantis rejected the idea at a news conference, saying heavy immigration enforcement was not a "driving factor in South Florida, even though you did have some people that were concerned about it," Florida Politics reported.

Trump himself appeared to acknowledge the sweeps had gone too far. In a "60 Minutes" interview, describing a woman who had worked at a hotel as a maid or cleaner, he said, "great jobs, and all of a sudden, they're being taken out of the country, it's tough."

Díaz-Balart said he had warned the administration for months that its policies could cost votes in heavily Latino areas like Miami, without success. "We've had multiple meetings with the administration throughout the months, more than months. I haven't succeeded," he said. "We'll continue to try to do that. We'll see how receptive the administration is."

He also made clear he still backs much of the president's agenda. "I clearly support the President's effort, which I think has been highly successful, on the southern border and on getting rid of really violent and nasty and horrible people that are here that I think everybody agrees had to go," he said.

Will Washington change course?

The signals are mixed. Trump has elevated Stephen Miller, the architect of many of the administration's most restrictive immigration policies, to White House chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles. Multiple administration officials told CBS News they do not expect the crackdown to slow, and ICE officials have been instructed to aim for about 19,000 arrests a week, according to sources familiar with the agency's planning.

Díaz-Balart said he has a "very cordial relationship" with Miller. "I have some areas where I agree with him, and I have some areas where I strongly disagree with him," he said. "He knows my positions on these issues, and again, I haven't been thrown out of the White House yet."

What's next

Democrats will control both chambers of Congress in January, and some have called for more scrutiny of ICE operations and spending, though the roughly $75 billion in additional ICE funding approved in 2025 limits their leverage, CBS reported. Trump has also expressed interest in working with congressional Democrats on immigration legislation.

Díaz-Balart said any deal will require both parties. "On the Democratic side, it's going to require them actually wanting to negotiate in good faith, and that remains to be seen," he said.