--- title: Eva Longoria Responds to Donald Trump On Immigration description: 'My family never crossed a border; the border crossed us' canonical: https://time.com/4423726/dnc-eva-longoria-immigration-speech/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-26T13:47:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:00.239Z og:title: Eva Longoria Took a Big Dig at Donald Trump og:description: 'My family never crossed a border; the border crossed us' og:url: https://time.com/4423726/dnc-eva-longoria-immigration-speech/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb6a9775cf81a123/69889f44656a3f9813bcc74c/eva-longoria-dnc-speech-immigration-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US-VOTE-DEMOCRATS-CONVENTION og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Eva Longoria Took a Big Dig at Donald Trump twitter:description: 'My family never crossed a border; the border crossed us' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb6a9775cf81a123/69889f44656a3f9813bcc74c/eva-longoria-dnc-speech-immigration-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Eva Longoria Took a Big Dig at Donald Trump by [Naja Rayne / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Naja Rayne / People Contributor Jul 26, 2016 1:47 PM UTC  Eva Longoria speaks during Day 1 of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 25, 2016\. / AFP / SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images) Eva Longoria speaks during Day 1 of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 25, 2016\. / AFP / SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)SAUL LOEB—AFP/Getty Images by [Naja Rayne / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Naja Rayne / People Contributor Jul 26, 2016 1:47 PM UTC [Eva Longoria](http://www.people.com/people/eva%5Flongoria/) was among many at day one of the [Democratic National Convention](http://www.people.com/article/celebrities-speaking-democratic-national-convention-hillary-clinton) to deliver a heartfelt and personal speech. Offering up an energetic speech on Monday in Philadelphia, the actress spoke on her experiences as a Mexican-American, calling out stark contradictions between her upbringing and GOP candidate [Donald Trump](http://www.people.com/people/news/category/0,,personsTax:DonaldTrump,00.html)‘s earlier [comments about Mexican immigrants](http://www.people.com/article/donald-trump-controversial-campaign-moments). “I’m from a small town in South Texas, and if you know your history, Texas used to be part of Mexico,” Longoria, 41, said. “I’m ninth generation American. My family never crossed a border; the border crossed us.” Continuing on, Longoria made obvious references to Trump addressing immigrants as “rapists” who are “bringing drugs” and “crime” to America, as the former [_Desperate Housewives_](http://www.people.com/people/news/category/0,,MediaProductsTax:TVDesperateHousewives,00.html) star pointed to her own family to disprove the billionaire businessman’s claims. “When Donald Trump calls us criminals and rapists, he’s insulting American families. My father is not a criminal or a rapist, in fact, he’s a United States veteran,” Longoria said. “When Trump cruelly mocked a disabled reporter, he was also mocking my special-needs sister Lisa and many like her.” She added: “When he said that a wife who works is a very dangerous thing, he not only insulted me, he insulted my mother who worked as a special-education teacher for 40 years and raised four children while being a wife.” Despite a [rocky start](http://www.people.com/article/bernie-sanders-supporters-protest-hillary-clinton-dnc-philadelpahia) at the DNC, which saw a [struggle for unity](http://www.people.com/article/sarah-silverman-bernie-or-bust-supporters-youre-being-ridiculous), Longoria’s oration – similar to [First Lady Michelle Obama’s](http://www.people.com/article/michelle-obama-takes-on-donald-trump-dnc-speech) and [Senator Bernie Sanders’ speeches](http://www.people.com/article/bernie-sanders-dnc-speech-hillary-clinton-support) – rallied the crowd as they cheered for her honest and personal account of why she’ll be casting her ballot in [Hillary Clinton](http://www.people.com/people/news/category/0,,personsTax:HillaryRodhamClinton,00.html)‘s favor come November. _This_ [_article_](http://www.people.com/article/eva-longoria-bashes-donald-trump-at-dnc-speech) _originally appeared on_ [_People.com_](http://www.people.com) Eva Longoria Responds to Donald Trump On Immigration ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4423726/dnc-eva-longoria-immigration-speech/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4423726/dnc-eva-longoria-immigration-speech/"},"headline":"Eva Longoria Took a Big Dig at Donald Trump","datePublished":"2016-07-26T13:47:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:03:00.239Z","description":"'My family never crossed a border; the border crossed us'","url":"https://time.com/4423726/dnc-eva-longoria-immigration-speech/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb6a9775cf81a123/69889f44656a3f9813bcc74c/eva-longoria-dnc-speech-immigration-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Naja Rayne / People"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb6a9775cf81a123/69889f44656a3f9813bcc74c/eva-longoria-dnc-speech-immigration-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-VOTE-DEMOCRATS-CONVENTION","caption":"US-VOTE-DEMOCRATS-CONVENTION","creditText":"SAUL LOEB—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4423726/dnc-eva-longoria-immigration-speech/","name":"Eva Longoria Took a Big Dig at Donald Trump"}}]}] ```