A White House spokesperson insisted Monday that President Biden did not apologize for referring to the alleged killer of Laken Riley as “illegal.”
In an MSNBC interview that aired over the weekend, Mr. Biden sought to clean up the mess after he came under fire from fellow Democrats and progressives for referring to Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan national charged with murdering Riley, as an illegal.
“I shouldn’t have used illegal. It’s undocumented,” Mr. Biden said during a recorded interview, adding that immigrants “built the country.”
Asked if he regretted using the word “illegal,” Mr. Biden replied, “Yes.”
The White House insisted Mr. Biden’s backtracking does not amount to an apology.
“The president absolutely did not apologize. There was no apology anywhere in that conversation,” White House spokeswoman Olivia Dalton told reporters aboard Air Force One. “He did not apologize. He used a different word.”
Ms. Dalton said Mr. Biden spoke “passionately about what it means to lose a child and extended his deep grief and condolences to Riley’s family in front of the entire country.”
“And beyond that, I think it’s unconscionable that there are some people who are playing politics with this young woman’s tragic murder,” she said.
Mr. Ibarra is charged with murdering Riley, a nursing student at Augusta University who was out for a run on the University of Georgia campus last month when she was attacked and killed.
U.S. Immigrants and Customs Enforcement confirmed that he illegally crossed into the U.S. near El Paso, Texas, and under Biden catch-and-release policies was let go into the U.S. for further processing in September 2022.
He was arrested in New York last year and charged with acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 and a motor vehicle license violation. But he was released before U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement could place a detainer, or request that he be turned over for deportation purposes.
He was also arrested in Athens, Georgia, in October for shoplifting but was released without ICE taking him into custody, allowing him to be out on the streets when Riley was slain.
Mr. Ibarra is now charged with felonies, including malice murder, murder, kidnapping, false imprisonment, aggravated assault, aggravated battery and concealing the death of another related to Riley’s death.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.