Eva Longoria's loudmouthed virtue signaling backfires spectacularly as Spain bans Muslim festivals

Daily Mail​

9 hours ago

Eva Longoria tried to leave America behind over its immigration policies — but now she's facing a new crisis abroad, as her adopted home country of Spain enforces its own controversial crackdown.
The Desperate Housewives alum, 50, who vocally supported Kamala Harris during the 2024 election, fled the U.S. last year citing fears that if Donald Trump 'keeps his promises,' the country would become a 'scary place.'
'I'm privileged,' Longoria told Marie Claire in November. 'I get to escape and go somewhere. Most Americans aren't so lucky. They're going to be stuck in this dystopian country, and my anxiety and sadness is for them.'
Since then, the actress — who splits her time between Mexico and Spain with husband José Bastón and their 7-year-old son Santiago — has remained outspoken about U.S. policy from afar, even taking to Instagram as recently as June to slam Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation raids sweeping across U.S. cities.
In a tearful selfie video, she called the operations 'un-American' and 'cruel.'
But now, a town in Spain — the very country she chose as a safe haven — has sparked outrage by banning Muslims from using public facilities to celebrate religious festivals deemed ' alien ' to local identity.
Longoria has yet to comment on the Spanish policy shift, but the irony isn't lost on critics watching her anti-US stance come full circle abroad.
The controversial ban, passed in the town of Jumilla in Murcia, marks the first of its kind in Spain.
It was pushed through by the conservative People's Party (PP) with backing from the far-right Vox party.
Under the new proposal, 'municipal sports facilities cannot be used for religious, cultural or social activities alien to our identity unless organized by the local authority.'
The town in the Murcia region has a population of around 27,000 - roughly 7.5 per cent of whom come from mostly Muslim countries.
The policy comes on the heels of rising anti-migrant tensions in the region.
Less than a month earlier, violent riots erupted in Torre Pacheco — just 70 miles from Jumilla — after a Moroccan trio allegedly attacked an elderly Spanish man, leaving several people injured in the chaos that followed.
Following the announcement of the new ban, critics argue that the language is a clear targeting of Islamic customs and have raised concerns it may violate Spain's constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion.
Meanwhile, the local Vox party proudly took credit for the move on X, stating, 'Thanks to Vox the first measure to ban Islamic festivals in Spain's public spaces has been passed.
'Spain is and will be forever the land of Christian people.'
The new regulation bars Muslims in Jumilla from using public gyms or community centers to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, as well as Eid al-Adha, the Islamic festival of sacrifice.
Muslim leaders have strongly condemned the ruling.
Mounir Benjelloun Andaloussi Azhari, president of the Spanish Federation of Islamic Organisations, described the ban as a direct attack on the country's Muslim community, calling it 'Islamophobic and discriminatory.'
'They're not going after other religions, they're going after ours,' he told the Spanish newspaper El País.
Addressing the recent surge in racist rhetoric and violence, he added, 'We're rather surprised by what's happening in Spain. For the first time in 30 years I feel afraid.'
Despite staying silent on the recent crackdown in Spain, Longoria didn't hold back in June when she fiercely criticized U.S. immigration policy amid the ICE raids.
Addressing her 10.6 million Instagram followers in an extended video, Longoria admitted she wasn't physically in Los Angeles but in France filming a project.
Still, she called the unfolding events 'hard to witness from afar.'
'I can't imagine what it's like to be in Los Angeles right now,' the Corpus Christi, Texas-born star said. 'I can't believe it's happening in Austin, Texas. I can't believe it's happening all over the country.'
Longoria, who is Mexican-American, said she was stunned watching the events unfold because they contradicted the principles America's founders established.
'We all can agree nobody wants criminals in our country, nobody wants rapists, nobody wants drug dealers, nobody wants bad actors in our country — that's not what's happening,' said the Golden Globe-nominated actress.
She criticized President Trump for overstepping his bounds and failing to keep his campaign promise to deport only criminals.
'These roundups are happening in birthday parties, in elementary graduations, Home Depots — those are not criminals,' she said.
In her Marie Claire interview, Longoria didn't hold back about Trump either.
'The shocking part is not that he won… It's that a convicted criminal who spews so much hate could hold the highest office,' she told the magazine.
Since marrying José Bastón in 2016, Longoria has shifted her base abroad.
In early 2023, the couple purchased a sprawling six-bedroom, seven-bathroom mansion in Marbella — a 1,531-square-meter villa featuring an indoor pool, sauna, and state-of-the-art home gym.
By 2024, they began moving their belongings there.
Earlier that year, they slashed the asking price on their eight-bedroom Beverly Hills home from $22.8 million to $18.9 million, saying they were 'ready to get out.'
Longoria revealed she often travels to South America or Europe for work and rarely returns to Los Angeles anymore.
'I had my whole adult life here,' she said of LA to Marie Claire. 'But even before [the pandemic], it was changing.
'The vibe was different. And then COVID happened, and it pushed it over the edge.
'Whether it's the homelessness or the taxes, not that I want to s**t on California — it just feels like this chapter in my life is done now.'