(RepublicanNews.org) – President Joe Biden faced some criticism from some of his own party members following last week’s State of the Union address for describing an illegal alien who murdered a woman in Georgia as “an illegal” rather than “undocumented.”
On Thursday, March 7th, Biden delivered his annual State of the Union speech and mentioned the recent murder of Georgia medical student Laken Riley, but how he referred to her alleged killer did not sit well with some of his constituents.
While speaking about the border security bill blocked in the Senate and accusing his “predecessor” (former President Donald Trump) of having a hand in that, Biden said closing the border wasn’t about himself or Trump. At that moment, as Biden paused and stumbled over his words, GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia shouted at the president from her seat, “What about Laken Riley?”
As the president paused and reached down to pick something up, Greene shouted at him again and said, “Say her name.” Biden then held up a pin with Riley’s name on it, but instead of “Laken,” he said “Lincoln Riley,” describing her as “an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal.”
“That’s right,” Biden added, “but how many of the thousands of people [sic] being killed by legals?” It’s unclear what he meant by this comment – if it was a reference to mass shootings, to legal immigrants committing crimes, or perhaps broadly referring to violence committed by American citizens against one another.
Democratic Rep. Chuy Garcia of Illinois said he was “extremely disappointed” by Biden’s use of the word “illegal.” Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota responded to Biden’s remark by reminding her social media followers that humans are illegal. Rep. Delia Ramirez of Illinois reiterated the same message as Garcia and Omar. Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas accused Biden of using rhetoric that was “dangerously close to language” used by Trump to put “a target on the backs of Latinos.”
Former House Speaker Pelosi was asked about the president’s reference to Riley, and she also quickly jumped in to suggest Biden should’ve said “undocumented,” but then said she felt it wasn’t “a big deal.” Meanwhile, conservative critics are pointing out the hypocrisy of Democrats focusing on criticizing Biden for using the word “illegal” rather than for mispronouncing the slain woman’s name.
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