Eva Longoria Offers an Olive Branch to Mitt Romney Supporters

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Longoria Offers Olive Branch to GOP Group

Eva Longoria and the group, Café Con Leche, are speaking about teaming up after the election and working together to push for comprehensive immigration reform.

Actress Eva Longoria, an ardent supporter of President Obama who is campaigning for him, has offered an olive branch to a conservative Republican group that expressed outrage over her recent anti-Mitt Romney tweet.

She apologized, and Longoria and the group, Café Con Leche, are speaking about teaming up after the election and working together to push for comprehensive immigration reform.

“Eva has apologized publicly for retweeting a remark that many conservative women and minorities found offensive,” said Bob Quasius, of Cafe Con Leche. “We accept her sincere apology, and appreciate Eva’s immigration reform activism and years of charitable efforts, such as producing the documentary film Harvest (La Cosecha), which exposes child farm worker abuses, her foundation supporting Latina entrepreneurs, Eva’s Heroes, Padres Contra Cancer, etc.”

Longoria, co-chair of President Obama’s campaign, came under fire last week after a crude, offensive Twitter message that referred to woman’s body part, showed up under her account about the Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

The retweet read: “I have no idea why any woman/minority can vote for Romney. You have to be stupid to vote for such a racist/misogynistic tw*t.”

Café Con Leche demanded an apology. To their surprise, they got close to one from the star, whose camp reached out to Café Con Leche in an effort to make amends.

In discussions between Café Con Leche and Longoria representatives, a common issue that both are passionate about came up: comprehensive immigration reform.

They agreed to bury the hachet, as well as plan to join forces and push for a reform to the immigration system that would focus on enforcement and a pathway to legalization for certain undocumented immigrants.

She sent Café Con Leche a Twitter direct message that said that despite their political differences, “I know we share the same goals for the Latino community. We have to stand together!”

Café Con Leche, which is based on Minnesota, has come out swinging at many public figures for actions and statements the group deems offensive. Eva Longoria, they say, is the first to contact them and apologize.

“She apologized fairly quickly,” Quasius said. “She’s sincere, and she wants immigration reform.”

"It wasn't very smart of her," he said of Longoria's retweet, not the first one that has gotten her into trouble. "She's an actor, not a politician, not a public relations person. She's been put in a role that's not really her comfort zone."

Trevor Neilson, Longoria’s political adviser, said in an email: “One of the many reasons that Eva supports President Obama is that he is committed to working with Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform and has reaffirmed his commitment to strengthening our economic competitiveness by creating a legal immigration system that rewards hard work and demands responsibility.”

“He believes we need a smart, effective system that secures our borders, holds employers accountable and continues to fight for the DREAM Act,” the statement said. “While Eva supports President Obama, she is glad that there are some Republicans who also care about addressing the issue and she is happy to talk to them."

While Café Con Leche is a self-styled conservative Republican group, it stresses that it does not agree with a hard-line approach to immigration.

Their website says: “We don’t condone illegal immigration, neither do we demonize undocumented immigrants."

“We seek humane immigration reform based on free market principles and family unity,” it says. “We oppose both amnesty and mass deportation, instead seeking middle ground that balances personal responsibility with the needs of our economy and family unification.”

Efforts to pass comprehensive immigration reform have failed over the years. Former President George W. Bush came close to winning bipartisan support for a measure crafted by late Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. But bickering between the two parties ultimately doomed the bill.