Former Trump campaign adviser Steve Cortes argued convincingly that one of the midterm hoaxes being propagated by the establishment media is that Republican candidates should distance themselves from the president’s immigration policies.
The mainstream outlets point to polling, showing that Donald Trump’s approval rating on immigration policy is underwater, though it has been improving and nearing 50 percent in some surveys, according to RealClear Polling.
Cortes says that the headwinds Republicans are facing are mostly due to higher prices, not immigration policy.
Cortes served as a senior adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign with focus on reaching Hispanic voters and joined the 2020 campaign in the same capacity, Fox News reported at the time.
In a post published Monday on the social media platform X, he zeroed in on Hispanics, which is a group where Trump and Republicans have lost support going into the midterms. An NBC News/Telemundo poll published over the weekend found the president’s approval rating sits at 27 percent with Latino voters, while 69 percent disapprove. By contrast, a CNN exit poll found 46 percent voted for him in 2024.
Republican lawmakers are faring a little better than Trump among the demographic, with 35 percent of Latinos preferring they control Congress, down from 42 percent in 2024, but up from 33 percent in 2022, when the GOP did take back control of the House.
Citing his own polling work, Cortes wrote Monday: “There is a new hoax being pushed by the corporate media and establishment Republicans: that Hispanics are angry with the GOP over immigration enforcement. It’s a lie designed to stop mass deportations.
“Hispanics are angry about prices and the economy, not immigration. My own polling proves it. Asked which concerns them more, high prices or ICE and immigration enforcement, Hispanics pick inflation by a staggering 73% to 19%,” he continued.
“But Hispanics approve, by 11 points, of removing illegal migrants who refuse the Trump administration’s generous self-deportation incentives, including paid trips home and the chance to reapply later for legal status,” Cortes wrote. “And they back full cooperation between local police and federal immigration authorities by 20 points.”
In an accompanying video, he summarized, “They’re not concerned about immigration. They’re concerned about prices in the economy, which tells me, ultimately, we’re going to get that support back, but we’re going to have to earn it. We’re going to have to work to do it.”
There is a new hoax being pushed by the corporate media and establishment Republicans: that Hispanics are angry with the GOP over immigration enforcement. It’s a lie designed to stop mass deportations.
Hispanics are angry about prices and the economy, not immigration.
My own polling proves it.
Asked which concerns them more, high prices or ICE and immigration enforcement, Hispanics pick inflation by a staggering 73% to 19%.
But Hispanics approve, by 11 points, of removing illegal migrants who refuse the Trump administration’s generous self-deportation incentives, including paid trips home and the chance to reapply later for legal status.
And they back full cooperation between local police and federal immigration authorities by 20 points.
We can win back patriotic Hispanic voters. But we have to earn it by tackling affordability and fixing our problems here at home.
— Steve Cortes (@SteveCortes) October 5, 2026
What is likely also true is that a majority of Americans, no matter their race, are pleased that the border is no longer a chaotic mess as it was under Joe Biden when thousands of people crossed illegally into the U.S. daily.
A look at our southern border. https://t.co/IIC2cgmiza
— The Western Journal (@WesternJournalX) October 6, 2026
If they were apprehended, they were soon thereafter released into the country by the millions, driving up housing and other costs for Americans. Tragically, many of these migrants engaged in crime.
Can there be any doubt that one reason the murder rate saw its largest decline ever recorded and other violent crimes dropped so dramatically during Trump’s first year in office is because of strict immigration enforcement?
Control of Congress is pretty much a toss-up according to the latest polling. GOP candidates should be leaning into Trump’s record on immigration and the economy, while also addressing the steps that they have taken and continue to take (in the case of incumbents) to bring down costs that rose primarily under Biden and the Democrats.
That is the key to winning at the ballot box next month.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
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