Biden expresses regret for calling an undocumented immigrant “an illegal.”
President Biden expressed regret Saturday for using the word “illegal” to describe an undocumented immigrant charged in the killing of a 22-year-old nursing student in Georgia, agreeing with his progressive critics that it was a was an inappropriate term.
Biden used the word during an unscripted exchange with Republicans during his State of the Union address on Thursday evening, and subsequently came under fire from immigration supporters who say the term is dehumanizing. Among those who said he should not have used it were several congressional Democrats.
“I shouldn’t have used ‘illegal’; it is ‘undocumented,’” Mr. Biden said in an interview with Jonathan Capehart on MSNBC on Saturday, discussing his differences with former President Donald J. Trump.
“And look, when I talked about the difference 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 these people” that pollute the blood’. he said, adding, “I’ve talked about what I’m not going to do. Which I won’t do. I’m not going to disrespect any of these people.”
He continued, “Look, they built the country. The reason our economy is growing. We need to control the border and make the flow more orderly, but I do not share his opinion at all.”
Mr Capehart asked if that meant he regretted using the word ‘illegal’.
“Yes,” Mr. Biden responded.
The president’s response went further than when reporters first asked him about the issue on Friday. He did not explicitly withdraw the term at the time, noting that the immigrant accused of the murder in Georgia was “technically not supposed to be here.”
The president used the word Thursday evening as he urged Republican leaders to stop blocking a bipartisan deal to strengthen border security. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican who likes to play the role of provocateur, yelled at him about the case of Laken Riley, the student killed last month by what authorities say was a Venezuelan migrant who entered the country illegally entered. The case has become a ’cause célèbre’ among hardliners critical of illegal immigration.
“What about Laken Riley? Say her name!” shouted Ms. Greene, who was wearing a T-shirt that said “Say Her Name” and had been handing out buttons with the same slogan around the room.
Mr. Biden paused his speech to comply, holding up one of the buttons and saying Ms. Riley’s name, though he mispronounced her first name.
“Lincoln Riley, an innocent young woman who was murdered,” Mr. Biden said.
“By an illegal one!” shouted Mrs. Greene.
“By illegal, that’s right,” Mr. Biden agreed. “But how many thousands of people are being killed by the legislature?” he added in garbled syntax, noting that crime rates among undocumented immigrants have historically been lower than among others living in the United States.
“I tell her parents that my heart goes out to you,” he continued. “I have lost children myself, I understand that.”
He then argued that Republicans could do something about illegal migration by passing the compromise legislation. “Make sure this bill gets done,” he told them. “We must act now.”
Ms. Riley’s mother, Allyson Phillips, was not comforted by the president’s words and expressed outrage that he had mispronounced her daughter’s name.
“Biden doesn’t even know my child’s name,” she wrote on Facebook, adding that it was “sad.” She continued, “If you’re going to say her name (even if you’re forced to), at least say the right name!”
Mr. Trump met with Ms. Riley’s parents on Saturday ahead of a campaign rally in Rome, Georgia, according to senior campaign adviser Chris LaCivita. And he seized on Mr. Biden’s comments as he took the stage, where the crowd held up signs with Ms. Riley’s photo and the words “Say her name.”
“They just told me, prior to what I’m doing now, that Joe Biden went on television and apologized for calling Laeken’s killer illegal,” Mr. Trump told the crowd, adding that the Georgia immigrant “didn’t should have been in prison.” our country, and he would never have been under the Trump administration.”
Michael Gold reporting contributed.