Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is being lambasted for insisting that Joe Biden should have called the suspected murdered Laken Riley “undocumented” instead of “illegal.”
The president named Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student from Georgia who was killed Feb. 22 while jogging during Thursday’s State of the Union address.
Biden held up a pin of Riley and said, “Lincoln, Lincoln Riley, an innocent young woman murdered by an illegal alien.”
During an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Pelosi was asked about that part of the speech.
“Now he should have said he didn’t have papers, but that’s okay, okay? What’s most important,” Pelosi said.
During an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Nancy Pelosi said: ‘Now he should have said undocumented’
President Joe Biden held up a pin of Riley and said: ‘Lincoln, Lincoln Riley, an innocent young woman who was murdered by an illegal’
“Well, we usually say ‘undocumented.’ He said ‘illegal’. I don’t think it’s a big deal. I don’t think it’s a big deal because I think his focus was on sympathizing with the family. It’s a terrible tragedy.’
An illegal Venezuelan immigrant, Jose Antonio Ibarra, has been charged with Riley’s murder.
Social media users have criticized the congresswoman for focusing on how Ibarra’s immigration status should be referred to instead of Riley’s murder.
A user named DD said on X, “How can this woman get picked so many times and be such a despicable person. A young woman is dead and she is only concerned with systematics.’
“They are immigrants and they came here illegally, that makes them illegal immigrants,” Shirley Williams said on X.
“It’s not that big of a thing” is no different than “what difference does it make,” said another user.
“Maybe he should have said ‘killer,'” said X user Steven Thomas.
Just hours before Biden’s remarks, the House of Representatives passed the Laken Riley Act, which requires Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain migrants charged with theft and other crimes.
Before Biden’s remarks, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene handed out pins paying tribute to Riley.
Ibarra has been charged with malice murder, murder, aggravated assault, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, obstructing a 911 call, concealing the death of another and failing to appear on a fingerprintable charge .
Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student from Georgia, was killed while jogging on February 22
An illegal Venezuelan immigrant, Jose Antonio Ibarra, has been charged with Riley’s murder
His illegal status prompted Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to publicly accuse the Biden administration of its immigration policies.
Ibarra was arrested in 2022 after illegally entering the U.S. and “paroled and released for further processing,” according to an ICE statement.
Just five months ago, Ibarra was arrested and charged with “acting in a manner likely to injure a child under 17 years of age and a motorcycle license violation,” according to ICE.
Ibarra, who had worked for food delivery services like DoorDash and Uber Eats, was caught riding his wife’s son on the back of a gasoline-powered moped without a helmet or restraint for the child in New York City.
The NYPD released him “before any detainee could be released,” the agency said.