In a reversal of President Joe Biden’s walkback of his use of the term “illegal” when referring to the suspected murderer of 22-year-old nursing student, Laken Riley, the White House said that Biden did not apologize for the use of the term.
According to Principal Deputy Press Secretary Olivia Dalton, there was no apology in Biden’s interview even though he said he regretted referring to Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan national who entered the U.S. illegally, as an “illegal.”
“I want to be really clear about something: The president absolutely did not apologize. There was no apology anywhere in that conversation,” Dalton stated.
According to her, the president was speaking “passionately about knowing what it means to lose a child and extended his deep grief and condolences to Laken Riley’s family in front of the entire country, in the House chamber.”
“And beyond that, I think it’s unconscionable that there are some people who are playing politics with this young woman’s tragic murder,” she added.
Biden faced backlash from Democrats last week for referring to Ibarra as an “illegal” after he was pressured into talking about Riley during his State of the Union address.
Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-IL), a Mexican-born lawmaker who moved to the U.S. in 1965, said on X that he was “extremely disappointed to hear President Biden use the word ‘illegal.’”
As a proud immigrant, I'm extremely disappointed to hear President Biden use the word "illegal."
— Congressman Chuy García (@RepChuyGarcia) March 8, 2024
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) criticized his use of the term, which she called “Republican rhetoric.”
“No human being is illegal. Just like we should not be implementing Republican policy, we should not be repeating Republican rhetoric,” she wrote.
No human being is illegal.
Just like we should not be implementing Republican policy, we should not be repeating Republican rhetoric.
— Ayanna Pressley (@AyannaPressley) March 8, 2024
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) also claimed that “No human being is illegal.”
Let me be clear: No human being is illegal.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 8, 2024
On Sunday, during an interview with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart, Biden said he regretted using the term and that he should have used “undocumented” instead.
“Undocumented person. And I shouldn’t have used ‘illegal.’ It’s ‘undocumented person.’ And look, when I spoke about the difference between Trump and me, one of the things I talked about at the border was his, the way he talks about vermin, the way he talks about these people polluting the blood,” he stated, adding, “And I talked about what I’m not going to do, what I won’t do, I’m not gonna 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, but I don’t share his view at all.”
The president also faced huge criticism for his apology, especially from the right, with former President Donald Trump saying he should apologize for “apologizing to this killer.”