Shutterstock / Jonah Elkowitz
President Joe Biden addresses the nation earlier this year about the Senate passing a supplemental bill for national security.
President Biden slammed former President Trump on immigration during the address, yet later, during an off-the-cuff response to heckling from U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, referred to a Venezuelan national as “an illegal.” Green demanded that Biden mention the name of Laken Riley, a woman allegedly slain by that same Venezuelan man.
Biden stated the name and repeated what Greene said, saying Riley was “killed by an illegal. That’s right.”
“To her parents I say my heart goes out to you having lost children myself, I understand,” the president added.
Immigrant-rights advocates say applying the term "illegal" to undocumented immigrants is dehumanizing and scapegoats individual immigrants for largely systemic issues regarding their status. Some people, they argue, even use it as a code word signifying racial hatred.
Understandably, Biden now faces blowback from members of his own party, including San Antonio U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, who chaired the Congressional Hispanic Caucus from 2019-2020.
“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,” Castro told the Texas Tribune, referring to a North Texas man who was allegedly slain by a neighbor who repeatedly tormented Martinez’s family about their ethnicity.
Castro brought Martinez’s wife, Priscilla Martinez, as his guest to the address.
“I just don't get why the president will go down that road,” Castro also told the Tribune. “I don't think it's helpful to him or to the Democratic Party.”
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, a Democrat representing portions of both San Antonio and Austin, told the Tribune he didn't think the word reflected Biden's views and predicted the president's handlers would later clarify the comment. At the same time, he said Greene's heckling was out of line.
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