President Biden received criticism online after claiming in a recent interview that “illegal immigrants” built this country.
The statement came as the university apologized for using the word “illegal” to describe Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan national accused of killing Laken Riley, a nursing student at Augusta University. The president sparked a backlash on social media when he credited illegal immigrants with “building” America, although he previously blamed it on America’s middle class.
“In his SOTU speech, he said unions and the middle class built this country; now he says ‘illegal immigrants’ built this country. The next time he speaks to an African-American audience, Can you guess who he says built this country?” journalist Jeff Gremillion wrote about X.
In a wide-ranging interview with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart that aired on Saturday, Biden spoke about Ybarra, a 26-year-old who crossed the border illegally in Texas but remained on parole in the United States. In response, he said he should not have used the word “illegal.” He is charged with Riley’s murder.
Biden told Capehart that he should have used the word “undocumented” instead of “illegal” when referring to Riley’s alleged killer in an off-script moment during last week’s State of the Union address. emphasized.
Biden says he regrets using ‘illegal’ to describe Laken Riley murder suspect during State of the Union address
President Biden during the State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, March 7, 2024. (Shaun Hsu/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“We shouldn’t have used illegal means, we should have… It’s not documented,” Biden said. “And look, when I talked about the differences between Trump and me, one of the things I talked about at the border was his — the way he talks about pests, the way he talks about people contaminating blood. . What was it that I talked about? I won’t do it, I won’t do what I won’t do. I don’t mean to disrespect these people. Look, they built our country. Our economy. is growing because we have to: control borders and more orderly flows.”
In his State of the Union address, Biden acknowledged support from United Auto Workers President Sean Fein, saying, “Wall Street didn’t create America. They’re not the bad guys. But they built it. We didn’t. The middle class built the country, and unions built the middle class.”
Trump supporters hold up images of Laken Riley before speaking at the “Get Out the Vote” rally in Rome, Georgia on March 9, 2024. (Ilya Nouberge/AFP via Getty Images)
The juxtaposition also drew criticism from another I need to….my great-grandparents,” he wrote. [were] I was born as a slave in this country! ”
Laken Riley’s murder suspect’s second brother was deported twice before settling in Georgia
Former President Trump, who is considered the Republican nominee, slammed Biden’s apology at a rally. President Trump criticized Biden for confusing Laken’s name with USC head football coach Lincoln Riley, saying Biden “went on TV and called Laken’s killer an illegal offender. “I apologized for that,” he lamented, drawing boos from the audience.
“They gave it a new name that’s even worse. Do you know what the new name is? Neighbor,” Trump said. “Newcomer to our country… are we going crazy or what? Is this country going crazy? What about that guy, newcomer… No, he was an illegal alien. .And I say he was an illegal immigrant. He was an illegal immigrant. It would never have been.”
Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who challenged Biden to mention Riley by name during the State of the Union address, also criticized Biden’s apology for the word “illegal.”
“Disgusting. Joe Biden just apologized to the illegal exotic animal that brutally killed Laken Riley,” Greene wrote on X.
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President Trump met with Riley’s parents at his own rally on Saturday, the same day that Biden’s interview apology aired.
