Biden Expresses ‘Regret,’ Apologizes for Using ‘Illegal’ To Describe an Undocumented Immigrant

Published on: March 12, 2024 at 2:30 AM
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Tasos Katopodis

President Joe Biden apologized for referring to a migrant as “an illegal” during his State of the Union speech.

Biden brought up the case of Laken Riley, a nursing student who was reportedly murdered by an unauthorized immigrant , in his speech on March 7. Republicans, who have attacked Biden’s handling of border migrants and attempted to link Riley’s murder to criminal activity, have made Riley’s death a key talking point. Responding to all this criticism, Biden said, “An innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal. That’s right. But how many thousands of people, are being killed by legals?”

Biden was slammed by many people from the Democrat party itself and later expressed regret for using that term. “I shouldn’t have used ‘illegal,’ it’s ‘undocumented,’” Biden told MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart in an interview a day after his speech, HuffPost reported.

During his conversation with Capehart, Biden expressed his intention to refrain from using the crude language that former President Donald Trump has employed to characterize immigrants. “When I spoke about the difference between Trump and me, one of the things I talked about in the border was his, the way he talks about “vermin,” the way he talks about these people polluting the ’blood.′ I talked about what I’m not going to do. What I won’t do. I’m not going to treat any of these people with disrespect.”

Biden went on to say that immigrants “built the country” and contributed to the expansion of the economy. “So you regret using that word?” Biden was asked by Capehart, to which Biden responded, “Yes.”

Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-Ill.) slammed Biden on X , saying, “As a proud immigrant, I’m extremely disappointed to hear President Biden use the word ‘illegal,’” while Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) also expressed her frustration, posting on X , “No human being is illegal.”

Other social media users also slammed Biden for the usage of that term. “Biden using the term ‘an illegal’ to describe a human being and then pivoting to criticize Trump (correctly, obviously) for demonizing immigrants is really grim shit,” a user criticized on X .

“Very disappointing to hear Biden use the hateful right-wing slur “illegal” tonight. And just before pledging never to demonize immigrants. Maybe he was thrown off by the interruption. Regardless he should apologize and disavow the term. No human being is illegal. Ever,” another user expressed their frustration at the president. “no human is illegal, immigrants make America great, demonizing the most vulnerable is gross, Biden and Democrats must do better,” a user shared on X .

Another user pointed to racist connotations of the word illegal, slamming on X , “No human being is illegal. We don’t demonize black and brown folks by using rhetoric that is rooted in racism and violence. That’s not the bridge builder, that is not the rhetoric our democratic coalition should be using. I hope Biden never says that again. I think he might.”

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