President Joe Biden recently came under fire for using the word “illegal” to describe a migrant during his State of the Union speech.
Biden branded the alleged killer of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student of Augusta University, an “Illegal” after being heckled to “say her name.”
The president’s ad-lib of the word during his speech didn’t go down well with some Democrats, who have called it a “dangerous rhetoric.”
Joe Biden Defends Calling A Migrant An ‘Illegal’
On Friday, President Joe Biden, while preparing to board Air Force One for a campaign trip to Philadelphia, was asked if he regretted calling Laken Riley’s alleged killer an “illegal” during his State of the Union speech.
Biden, stuttering a bit, responded, “Well, I probably… I don’t regr– Technically not supposed to be here.”
The 81-year-old had shocked many when he ad-libbed his remark about Riley while addressing the Union.
Q: “Do you regret using the word ‘illegal’ to describe immigrants last night?”
BIDEN: “Well, I probably, uhhhh, I don’t re— it, uhhh, aghhh, technically not supposed to be here…”
pic.twitter.com/0PIBF5Ft6A
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) March 8, 2024
It all stemmed from the president being seriously heckled by Rep Marjorie Taylor Green to say the name of the 22-year-old nursing student who had been allegedly murdered by Jose Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan immigrant.
“Lincoln, Lincoln Riley,” Biden said, botching her name while holding up a pin Greene gave him. “An innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal.”
He added, “But how many of thousands of people being killed by legals? To her parents, I say my heart goes out to you; having lost children myself, I understand.”
Democrats Slammed Joe Biden For Using The Term Illegal
Biden’s use of the word illegal to describe a migrant was not well-received by some Democrats.
According to the Texas Tribune, Texas Democrats were cringed when the president uttered the term “illegal” while referring to Riley’s alleged killer.
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro said, “It’s dangerous rhetoric. And I think that the president is getting bad advice from his advisers and speech writers. That kind of rhetoric is what inspired the people who killed Aaron Martinez.”
Aaron Martinez was a man who was murdered by a neighbor after he and his family were constantly harassed for their Latino ethnicity.
“I just don’t get why the president will go down that road,” Castro noted. “I don’t think it’s helpful to him or to the Democratic Party.”
Speaking on the matter, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seemingly defended Biden, saying his use of the word illegal was “not a big thing,” per CNN. However, Pelosi noted that it would have been better if Biden had used the term “undocumented.”
A Video Of The President Stumbling Recently Went Viral
VIGOR: Biden almost trips (twice) as he boards Air Force One — despite using the short stairs to avoid tripping pic.twitter.com/CkoLnwLV2q
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 20, 2024
Prior to his State of the Union speech, a video went viral on X, formerly Twitter, showing Biden stumbling on the steps of his Air Force One plane.
The stumble happened as Biden saluted U.S. military personnel at the bottom of the new, shorter stairs of the plane. However, he caught himself with the handrail before the stumble turned into an outright fall.
With Biden’s physical ability and mental state a hot topic for Americans, the viral video only caused lots of commentary on the platform. RNC operative Jake Schneider wrote, “What comes after the short stairs? Strapping Biden onto a stretcher and carrying it?” Then, a comment from Fox News contributor Leo Terrell read, “Joe is afraid of stairs!!”
The Citizen Free Press page shared the viral clip, commenting, “Joe Biden almost trips twice on the short steps. The man is falling apart in real-time.” Alec Sears, a famously conservative digital strategist, also commented on the video, writing, “Lots of vigor on display here.”
Joe Biden Stumbled On Other Occasions
The video also recalled other multiple incidents where Biden stumbled and almost fell on the steps of his taller Air Force One plane in 2021 and 2022. These incidents caused his team to switch to a set of shorter steps to board the aircraft in 2023.
A recent report from the New York Times read, “Now, there is a Secret Service agent positioned at the bottom of the stairs when he disembarks.”
Biden has also completely fallen several times during his first term, one of the most viral being his dramatic onstage fall at the 2023 Air Force Academy commencement event. He’d been standing for over an hour to shake hands with each of the 921 newly graduated cadets and congratulate them.
After the fall over the sandbag, Biden was helped back onto his feet and seemed completely fine. As he arrived back at the White House, the president joked about the incident to reporters, saying he “got sandbagged.”
