A billboard calling several local leaders “traitors” for not pushing back on policies that would end TPS for several immigrants is now getting pushback. The second half of this video shows the responding billboard.
A battle of billboards is going on on the Palmetto Expressway in Miami-Dade County as groups respond to a stinging criticism of local GOP lawmakers.
The first digital billboard to go up earlier this month paid for by the Miami-Dade Democratic Hispanic Caucus showed four local Republicans—U.S. Secretary of State and former Senator Marco Rubio and Representatives Maria Elvira Salazar, Mario Díaz-Balart and Carlos Gimenez—next to the words "Traitors" followed by "to immigrants," "to Miami-Dade" and "to the American dream."
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WATCH HEREUnderneath the billboard, which can be seen at the 74th Street exit on the Palmetto Expressway, there is a call to "Protect TPS" and what appears to be a Venezuelan flag.
"Rubio, Salazar, Giménez & Diaz-Balart chose party loyalty over human lives. TPS holders are under threat—and they said NOTHING. We put up the billboards to say it for them: TRAITORS," the caucus said in a post on X.
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The campaign criticizes the Trump administration's move to end temporary legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and Haitians, and the perceived inaction of Hispanic Republicans from South Florida.
Salazar told NBC6 that the effort amounted to "cheap Castro-style propaganda."
And more than 180 Cubans living in the United States with an I-220A form, which does not grant a work permit or provide a path to residency, agree. They say they don't feel represented by the ad, and funded another digital billboard that can be seen on the Palmetto Expressway at 167th Street in Hialeah.
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It features Fidel Castro, Raúl Castro, Miguel Díaz-Canel, Nicolás Maduro, Hugo Chávez and Daniel Ortega, next to the words: "The real traitors" followed by "to their people," "to freedom," and "to human rights."
“We feel indignation. Here we answered with the truth," Liaste Pérez, one of the sponsors of the responding billboard, told our sister station Telemundo 51 in Spanish. "The only true traitors are those communist regimes that forced us to flee our countries.”
In smaller print, the billboard says, "We have to be grateful," followed by a Cuban flag and the words "Cubans with 1-220A."
The group said that political party aside, they do feel that the Cuban legislators called out in the first billboard have been allies in their struggle.
"My life is not the way I would like it to be... but it's not a time out either. It is time to face this struggle, for our legalization and for Cuba's freedom," Yoslaine Gonzalez said.
In a post on X, Salazar said: "When the left attacks, it’s because they’re desperate. But when your community knows you’ve always stood by them, they come out to defend you. Thanks to the hundreds of I-220A migrants who raised their voices to support our work. I know I’ll always count on you, just like you’ll always count on me!”
The Miami-Dade Democratic Hispanic Caucus responded to the response with a meme. They said the two billboards equated to "the same picture."
Someone liked our billboard so much that they copied our homework… pic.twitter.com/VOtwstPTWd
— Miami-Dade Democratic Hispanic Caucus (@DHCFMiami) April 9, 2025
