President Joe Biden has apologized for calling Laken Riley’s murder suspect an “illegal.” During an interview with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart, Biden was asked about his description of Jose Antonio Ibarra, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, as an “illegal” during his State of the Union address on Thursday night.
“And I shouldn’t have used illegal, I should’ve… It’s undocumented. And look, when I spoke about the difference between Trump and me, one of the things I talked about on the border was his – the way he talks about vermin, the way he talks about these people polluting the blood. I talked about what I’m not going to do, what I won’t do. I’m not going to treat any, any, any of these people with disrespect. Look, they built the country. The reason our economy is growing, we have to control the border and more orderly flow. But I don’t share his view at all,” he said.
Asked if he regretted using the term which has earned him a lot of criticism from Democrats, the president said, “yes.”
During his speech on Thursday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) asked Biden to say the name of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was allegedly killed by an illegal immigrant, who is a Venezuelan national.
Making a mistake calling Riley’s name, the 81-year-old president said, “Lincoln Riley! An innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal. That’s right. But how many of the thousands of people being killed by illegals? To her parents, I say, my heart goes out to you having lost children myself. I understand.”
Many Democrat lawmakers ired by that part of his speech took to X to air their criticisms.
“Disappointed that @POTUS would use such dehumanizing right wing rhetoric to speak about immigrants tonight. No human being is illegal,” Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) wrote.
Disappointed that @POTUS would use such dehumanizing right wing rhetoric to speak about immigrants tonight. No human being is illegal. #SOTU
— Delia Ramirez (@DeliaRamirezIL) March 8, 2024
Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-IL), a Mexican-born lawmaker who moved to the U.S. in 1965, also found Biden’s word use offensive.
“As a proud immigrant, I’m extremely disappointed to hear President Biden use the word ‘illegal,’’’ he wrote.
As a proud immigrant, I'm extremely disappointed to hear President Biden use the word "illegal."
— Congressman Chuy García (@RepChuyGarcia) March 8, 2024
