President Joe Biden's reelection campaign cancels event featuring actress Eva Longoria

President Joe Biden's reelection campaign cancelled an event Monday in Phoenix that was set to feature Eva Longoria, an actress and Latina political activist.

Longoria was expected to host an event focused on rallying Latinas behind the president. She had planned to argue that Biden’s 2024 rival, former President Donald Trump, has “demonized Latinos throughout his political career” and his agenda for a second term would particularly harm Latinas and their families, the campaign said.

The campaign cancelled the event on Monday afternoon, citing unspecified travel issues.

Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric against immigrants from Mexico fueled his political ascent in 2016. In his 2024 campaign, he said immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” echoing the language of 20th-century European fascists.

Biden has struck a more welcoming tone towards immigrants but has recently revived some Trump-era immigration policies, such as building a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, and has backed bipartisan legislation that would tighten asylum rules.

Polling suggests that Biden's support among Hispanic voters has fallen since he took office, and many immigrant neighborhoods swung to the right during the 2020 election.

Arizona is one of a handful of states that is seen as up for grabs in this year’s presidential election. Biden’s reelection team accordingly has been sending a steady flow of campaign surrogates and allies to the Grand Canyon State.

Longoria, who is best known for her role on the 2004-2012 television series Desperate Housewives, has made immigration a focus of her activism. She spoke out against Senate Bill 1070, Arizona’s controversial immigration-enforcement law, and criticized Arizona’s since-overturned ban on ethnic studies courses.

Longoria previously has campaigned for former President Barack Obama.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Biden campaign cancels event featuring actress Eva Longoria in Phoenix