Rubio, Florida Republicans Blasted In New Ad After Ruling On TPS For Venezuelans: 'Who Will They Betray Next?'

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is again being slammed in Florida over his changing stances on issues impacting its Latin American community.

In this case, Keep Them Honest, a dark-money organization not required to disclose its donors, is paying for signs claiming that Rubio, President Donald Trump and other Florida Republicans "just betrayed all Venezuelans."

The sign, which could be seen on the Miami Herald's website on Wednesday, features a woman whose face is painted with the colors of Venezuela along with Rubio, President Donald Trump and Reps. Carlos Gimenez and Mario Diaz-Balart. Next to them is an immigrant holding a red sign reading "Latinos Para Trump" and the caption "Who will they betray next?" below.

Another sign in the organization's website shows a picture of Rubio looking down. "Little Marco sold out all Venezuelans. He told Trump to terminate TPS. He's a traitor to all those fleeing dictatorship," the message reads.

The renewed criticism comes on the same week as the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the U.S., paving the way for their deportation.

Rubio's shift on the matter is notable given his long record of supporting TPS for Venezuelan nationals fleeing the Maduro regime. In 2017 he urged the Trump administration to extend it, stating it was not in the United States' interest to deport non-violent individuals back to the country.

Then, in 2019, Rubio co-sponsored the Venezuela TPS Act, being the only Republican to do so. After the Biden administration designated Venezuela for TPS in 2021, Rubio publicly supported the move and later pushed for expanded eligibility in 2022, warning that not doing so could be a "very real death sentence" for many Venezuelans. This year, however, he described the designation as "harmful to U.S. national interests.

Rubio also framed the protection as a policy that "facilitates and encourages mass migration" and undermines border security. He also cited the presence of criminal organizations like Venezuela's Tren de Aragua as a justification for ending TPS, stating they "threaten the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere."

Keep Them Honest has carried out initiatives of the kind earlier this year, setting up billboards across Florida to criticize the officials with Latin American roots. "Deporting good immigrants back to dictatorships is cruel," read another add.

Chris Willis, a spokesman for the group, told the Miami Herald in late April that the officials "have the ability to make demands for what we know traditionally these members of Congress have said they stood for," which is "to defend the rights of those who have fled dictatorships and have come to this country seeking the American dream."