President Biden obtained criticism on-line for claiming in a latest interview that “undocumented” immigrants constructed this nation.
The assertion got here as he apologized for utilizing the time period “illegal” to explain Jose Ibarra, the Venezuelan nationwide accused of killing Augusta College nursing scholar Laken Riley. The president drew backlash on social media for crediting unlawful immigrants for having “built” the U.S. – one thing he had beforehand credited to the American center class.
“In his SOTU speech he said unions and the middle class built this country, now he says ‘undocumented’ immigrants built the country. Any guess as to who he will say built the country the next time he’s speaking to an African-American audience?” journalist Jeff Gremillion wrote on X.
Sitting down with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart for a wide-ranging interview that aired Saturday, Biden mentioned he mustn’t have used the time period “illegal” for Ibarra, 26, who illegally crossed the border in Texas however was nonetheless launched for parole into the U.S. earlier than being charged with murdering Riley.
Biden harassed to Capehart that he ought to have used the phrase “undocumented” – as an alternative of “illegal” – when citing Riley’s accused assassin throughout an off-script second on the State of the Union deal with final week.
President Biden throughout a State of the Union deal with on the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, March 7, 2024. (Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg by way of Getty Pictures)
“And I shouldn’t have used illegal, I should’ve… It’s undocumented,” Biden mentioned. “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.”
Throughout his State of the Union deal with, Biden – whereas acknowledging his endorsement by United Auto Staff President Shawn Fain – mentioned, “Wall Street didn’t build America. They’re not bad guys. They didn’t build it, though. The middle class built the country, and unions built the middle class.”
Trump supporters maintain photographs of Laken Riley earlier than he speaks at a “Get Out the Vote” rally in Rome, Georgia, on March 9, 2024. (Elijah Nouvelage/AFP by way of Getty Pictures)
The juxtaposition additionally drew condemnation from one other X consumer, who wrote, “Did president @JoeBiden just say the illegal’s, I mean undocumented immigrants built this country? The @WhiteHouse needs to explain this…. My great grand parents [were] born in this nation in slavery!”
LAKEN RILEY MURDER SUSPECT’S SECOND BROTHER WAS TWICE DEPORTED BEFORE SETTLING IN GEORGIA
Former President Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, slammed Biden’s apology at a rally. Torching Biden for mixing Laken’s identify up with USC head football coach, Lincoln Riley, Trump lamented that Biden “went on television and apologized for calling Laken’s murderer an illegal,” drawing boos from the group.
“They have a new name that’s even worse. You know what the new name is? Neighbor,” Trump mentioned. “A newcomer to our country… are we going crazy or what? Is this country going crazy? How about that one, newcomer… no, he was an illegal. And I say he was an illegal alien. He was an illegal immigrant. He was an illegal migrant. And he shouldn’t have been in our country, and he never would have been under the Trump policy.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who had challenged Biden throughout the State of the Union to say Riley’s identify, additionally criticized Biden’s apology for the time period “illegal.”
“Disgusting. Joe Biden just apologized to the illegal alien animal who brutally murdered Laken Riley,” Greene wrote on X.
Trump met with Riley’s mother and father at his rally Saturday, the identical day Biden’s interview apology aired.
