Tipsheet

Huh? Biden Responds to Criticism Over Daring to Use the Term 'Illegal,' Sort Of

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  March 08, 2024 4:45 PM

I've covered how President Joe Biden's fellow Democrats absolutely melted down over how he went off script to acknowledge during his State of the Union address that Laken Riley was "an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal." It wasn't so much this young woman's death that Democrats were ranting and raving about, but rather that Biden referred to an accused murderer as "an illegal." The president was asked about the word choice on Friday by a reporter as he went to board Air Force One. Given how problematic the question was, how confused Biden was, and how unintelligible he was, the president's response very much leaves something to be desired.

"Do you regret using the word 'illegal' to describe immigrants last night, sir," a reporter ask, completely butchering the point and going with a Democratic talking point of equating all immigrants with illegal ones. 

"Well, I probably," Biden said before dropping off, although he then appeared to be about to say "I don't regret it." As if that lack of a coherent response wasn't alarming enough, Biden seemed to regain himself only to then say he's "technically not supposed to be here."

Biden's issues with answering the question aren't the only issue here. Fox News' Bill Melugin, who has covered the border extensively, pointed out what should be an obvious point. The president was talking about an illegal immigrant. Riley's suspected killer, Jose Antonio Ibarra, indeed came here illegally from Venezuela and also has been arrested before on other charges.

Further, the correct term under immigration law is actually "alien," though the Biden administration made the move from the start to stop using what was considered such a "dehumanizing term."

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White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was also asked about the word choice aboard Air Force One on Friday. 

A reporter was looking from Jean-Pierre to "clarify" what Biden meant when using the term "illegal" and what sounded like "legal," though that appeared to be asking too much of the press secretary. 

Jean-Pierre acknowledged that Biden had just been asked about that just moments before, but provided no other relevant answer. Instead, her non-answer referred to "the entirety of what [the president] said, which was how he supposedly "spoke very clearly about not demonizing immigrants."

"President Biden believes that treating everyone humanely, which is--which is why he--he stopped his predecessor's anti-immigration policies," she tried to stress, which "is really an important message that he wanted to make sure was sent during the State of the Union."

Given the ferocious reaction from Democrats and immigration activists, it seems that this could be a tactical move for the White House to try to remind such critics of the points made in the president's prepared remarks. 

Riley's name, which Biden was prompted to say by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA)--though he said it incorrectly by calling her "Lincoln Riley"--wasn't in his prepared marks, according to the official White House transcript. The exchange appears in another official transcript, though even the wrong name is written out incorrectly. 

What those on the campaign have had to say hasn't been too helpful by way of clarity, either. While on CNN, national co-chair Mitch Landrieu was confronted by outrage over the term, including from Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), who complained the term was "dehumanizing" and "problematic."

"Well, that's probably true. He probably should have used a different word. And I think he would know that," Landrieu said this morning, though now that he's since been asked about his word choice, who knows what Biden knows. 

"But what you should notice about that is not that he made a small mistake. The big thing that he did right, and this is what this president always does, is express empathy to people. He expressed kindnesses to people. He understands because, as you know, he lost a number of children in his life," Landrieu continued. He then spun a bunch of tales about Biden's supposed plans for immigration and complained about Republicans in Congress, which is the talking point of this administration and campaign. 

In Landrieu's case, he also went on a bizarre aside about how former and potentially future President Donald Trump "is not fit to govern."

Biden has likely irked more of his leftist base, people who again, appear much more bothered by a word choice than they are that Riley was allegedly murdered by someone who ought not to have been here and ought to have already been deported, meaning she would still be alive. But don't expect any congratulations from Americans who care considerably about immigration and who think the president has been doing a terrible job on the issue.

For all of the celebrating that Biden's fellow Democrats and campaign surrogates may have done on Thursday night and Friday morning about how his speech was regarded by partisan Democrats, the president likely created a bigger headache for himself.