Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is under fire for insisting that Joe Biden should have called the alleged murder of Laken Riley “undocumented” rather than “illegal.”
The president failed to name Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student from Georgia who died while jogging on Feb. 22, during Thursday’s State of the Union address.
Biden, holding a Riley pin, said: “Lincoln, Lincoln Riley, an innocent young girl who was murdered by an illegal.”
During an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Pelosi was asked about that part of the speech.
‘Now I should have said undocumented, but that’s no big deal, okay? What’s the big deal? Pelosi said.
During an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Nancy Pelosi said, “Now I should have said undocumented.”
President Joe Biden, holding a Riley pin, 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 it was focused on sympathy for the family. “It is a terrible tragedy.”
An illegal Venezuelan immigrant, José 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 referenced instead of Riley’s murder.
A user named DD said on X: ‘How can this woman be elected so many times and be such a despicable person?’ A young woman has died and she is only worried about the systemic ones.
“They are immigrants and they came here illegally, that makes them illegal immigrants,” Shirley Williams said in X.
“‘No big deal’ is no different than ‘whatever,'” another user said.
“Maybe I should have said ‘murderer,'” said X user Steven Thomas.
Just hours before Biden’s comments, the House passed the ‘Laken Riley Act’ requiring Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain immigrants who have been accused of theft and other crimes.
Before Biden’s remarks, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene presented pins honoring Riley.
Ibarra has been charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call, concealing the death of another person and failure to appear for a fingerprint charge.
Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student from Georgia, died while jogging on February 22.
An illegal Venezuelan immigrant, José Antonio Ibarra, has been charged with Riley’s murder
Their illegal status led Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to publicly blame the Biden administration for its immigration policies.
Ibarra was arrested in 2022 after illegally entering the United States and was “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 to injure a child under the age of 17 and a driver’s license violation,” according to ICE.
Ibarra, who had been working for food delivery services such as DoorDash and Uber Eats, was caught riding his wife’s son on the back of a gas-powered moped without a helmet or child restraint in New York City. .
The NYPD released him “before an arrest warrant could be issued,” the agency said.