Beyond Parody: House Democrats Are Mad That Biden Used the 'Wrong' Term to Describe Laken Riley's Accused Killer
On Thursday, President Joe Biden delivered his 2024 State of the Union address, although, to many, it sounded more like a “Get off my lawn, you pesky kids” rant.
Hours earlier, the House of Representatives had passed the Laken Riley Act, a Republican-led bill that would require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain any illegal immigrant arrested for crimes like burglary or theft. The bill was named after the Georgia college student who, according to police, was killed by an illegal immigrant in February, Fox News reported.
The Venezuelan illegal immigrant accused of beating Riley to death had been arrested in New York in August by ICE and charged with acting in a manner to injure a child, as well as a motor vehicle license violation, but he had not been detained, ABC News reported. Had Jose Ibarra been detained in New York, perhaps Laken Riley would be alive today.
Powerful new ad on Laken Riley, who was killed by Biden border invader, from @citizens_sanity.pic.twitter.com/QK6sxNcUWt
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) March 2, 2024
As Biden walked into the chamber, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who was wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, captured his attention, causing him to, as Mediaite put it, “stop in his tracks.”
Greene was also wearing a T-shirt with the words “Say Her Name,” written on it and a pin with a photo of Laken Riley. As Biden passed her, a video posted by Citizen Free Press showed her handing him a pin, while saying the words, “Laken Riley.”
Joe Biden took a Laken Riley pin from MTG.
Joe Biden: “I know how to say her name.”
MTG: “Say her name!” pic.twitter.com/OH5wfYN5UC
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) March 8, 2024
“I know how to say the name!” Biden responded, taking the pin.
But evidently, he did not.
During his address, Biden was heckled by Greene, who challenged him to “say her name.”
Holding up the pin, Biden proceeded to take up the challenge.
Unfortunately, the name he said was not “Laken Riley” but “Lincoln Riley,” the name of the head coach of the Trojans football program at the University of Southern California.
“Lincoln — Lincoln Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal,” Biden said.
“That’s right, but how many of the thousands of people being killed by illegals –” he started to say before again being interrupted by Greene.
At this point, there seems to be some confusion over whether Biden said “illegals” or “legals” when referring to who is killing thousands of people.
Some outlets, like the New York Post, reported that Biden said “illegals,” which would mean he was referring to undocumented immigrants killing thousands of people in the United States.
However, NBC reported the word as “legals,” which could be taken to mean he was equating deaths caused by U.S. citizens with deaths caused by undocumented immigrants.
Given Biden’s mumbled speech patterns, it’s unclear which word he definitively used in that sentence fragment. The difference between “illegals” and “legals” significantly changes the meaning and implications of his statement.
What’s clear is that despite Laken Riley’s case receiving headline news coverage for weeks and being the cause of a bill passing the House just hours earlier, the president still could not manage to properly “say her name,” proving how heartlessly tone-deaf he is to the border crisis and its implications for U.S. citizens.
The episode has caused several Democrat freakouts already, but not because Biden couldn’t properly say the victim’s name or because he may have equated the death caused by an illegal with deaths caused by “legals.”
California Rep. Nancy Pelosi blurted out — without being asked — that Biden should have used the word “undocumented” instead of illegal when referring to Ibarra.
“He should have said ‘undocumented,'” she said, adding, “But, it’s not a big thing.”
From the look on her face, it seemed like it was a very big thing to her.
Nancy Pelosi just criticized Biden for using the term “illegal” when describing Laken Riley’s killer instead of “undocumented”
You can’t make this up pic.twitter.com/6DGzEc7VZw
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) March 8, 2024
Rep. Chuy Garcia of Illinois posted on social media, “As a proud immigrant, I’m extremely disappointed to hear President Biden use the word “illegal.”
Political commentator Stephen L. Miller responded to that comment with, “How would you like the president to respectfully describe the murderer of a 22 year old girl, sir?”
How would you like the president to respectfully describe the murderer of a 22 year old girl, sir?
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) March 8, 2024
Of course, Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar was deeply offended.
“Let me be clear: No human being is illegal,” she sanctimonously posted.
Let me be clear: No human being is illegal.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 8, 2024
Unbelievably, all these lawmakers who expressed their shock and dismay at Biden’s “mislabeling” of an evil alleged murderer had no words of “disappointment” for his lack of knowledge of even the name of the innocent Georgia student who was murdered by the alleged monster whose feelings they are all so eager to protect.
Nor did they feel any need to clarify her name for the sake of her parents and family.
It may sound like a parody, but it truly is the reality that Democrats live in — where protecting the feelings of lawbreakers is more important than protecting the lives of citizens.
And where the label of a murderer is more important than the name of the innocent.
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