Suellla Braverman has been accused of auditioning to become a “Trump tribute act” by a former chair of the Conservative Party.
Baroness Warsi said the home secretary was guilty of “crass race baiting” with her comments on sexual predators.
Earlier this week Braverman singled out British Pakistani men over concerns about grooming gangs.
Braverman said “political correctness” was to blame for the failure to tackle the problem until now.
It came as the government announced new measures designed to crack down on exploitation.
Writing on Twitter, Warsi, who was party chair under David Cameron and was the first Muslim woman to serve in the cabinet, condemned the characterisation.
The Tory peer posted screenshots of two stories showing white men and women who had been convicted of child exploitation.
Braverman’s comments likely were referencing high-profile cases including in Rotherham and Rochdale that involved groups of men of mainly Pakistani ethnicity.
But Home Office report into group-based child sexual exploitation (CSE) said the majority of perpetrators were actually white.
The study, published in December 2020, said: “Research has found that group-based CSE offenders are most commonly white.
“Some studies suggest an over-representation of black and Asian offenders relative to the demographics of national populations.
“However, it is not possible to conclude that this is representative of all group-based CSE offending.”
The NSPCC has also warned that sexual predators do not just come from “one background” and that a focus solely on race could create new “blind spots”.