Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and other Republicans criticized President Biden on Sunday for retracting remarks he made during his State of the Union address, referring to a man accused of murder as an “illegal.”
The man, accused of killing university student Laken Riley in Georgia, is a migrant from Venezuela who was not authorized to be in the U.S. The incident has become a topic of intense political debate among conservatives.
“The president is giving in to his supporters and showing respect to a man who doesn’t deserve any,” Johnson wrote on Xsaid, formerly Twitter. “This man is an undocumented immigrant who brutally murdered Laken Riley. President Biden should be apologizing to Laken’s family. What a disgrace.”
Biden retracted the “illegal” comment in an MSNBC interview on Saturday.
“An undocumented person. I shouldn’t have used illegal, it’s undocumented,” Biden told MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart. “And look, 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, 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,” Biden continued.
“So, you regret using that word?” Capehart asked.
“Yes,” Biden responded.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), a potential GOP vice presidential pick, also criticized Biden on Sunday.
“It’s appalling,” Scott said of Biden’s apology in a Fox News “Sunday Morning Futures” interview. “No one can explain that. Talk about appalling.”
“Joe Biden is more worried about using the word illegal or undocumented. The word he should use is murderer,” Scott continued. “Here, we have Donald Trump, our president, sitting down with Laken Riley’s family. And you have Joe Biden apologizing for what word he used.”
The use of the term “illegal” prompted criticism from some Democrats, who see the term as derogatory and indicative of stricter immigration policy that they do not support.
“Just like we should not be enacting Republican policy, we should not be echoing Republican rhetoric,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said.
