President Biden caught flak for messing up the name of Laken Riley, the woman whose murder was pinned on an illegal immigrant, during his State of the Union address Thursday, but Democratic lawmakers defended the president.
They said it was a long speech and criticized the legislation named after her.
After Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene kept pushing the president to address the death of Riley, yelling out, “Say her name,” Mr. Biden obliged but stumbled over the name.
“Lincoln — Lincoln Riley,” Mr. Biden said, holding up a button that had her Laken Riley’s name on it (Ms. Greene had given the button to him as he entered the House chamber). “An innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal.”
After the hour-long speech, Sen. Debbie Stabenow said anyone could have misspoken during such a long speech.
“All I can say is, if you stood up there, or I stood up there for that length of time and didn’t have something that you might have stumbled over it’d be a miracle,” the Michigan Democrat said.
The president’s rehearsed remarks didn’t include any reference to Riley, so anything he said was off-the-cuff after being repeatedly prodded.
Rep. Glenn Ivey, Maryland Democrat, said he didn’t hear the name fumble, but he took the opportunity to criticize Republicans over the Laken Riley Act that the House passed earlier Thursday.
The bill would require ICE to detain illegal immigrants who have been charged with local theft or burglary. It would also let individual states act against the federal government “if an immigration-related action harms the state or its citizens.”
“I thought the point was that the legislation that was brought up today by the House Republicans missed the point,” he said. “Instead of trying to pass legislation like the bipartisan Senate bill that the President pointed to, they did something that’s going to have no impact on the border whatsoever.”
He said if Republicans want to address the problem at the border, they need to pass the bipartisan Senate bill, which includes border security measures. Republicans opposed the bill, saying it didn’t do enough to fix the illegal immigration crisis.
Riley, 22, was a nursing student at Augusta University. She was killed while jogging on the University of Georgia’s campus. Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, was charged in connection to her murder. Police have not revealed how Riley was killed, but that her death was caused by blunt force trauma.
The murder of Riley has outraged critics of Mr. Biden’s border policies and Democratic-run states and cities with “sanctuary” policies for illegal immigrants.
They blame those policies for making her killing possible.
Homeland Security said Mr. Ibarra, a Venezuelan, sneaked into the U.S. in 2022 and was caught and released under the Biden administration’s expansive use of parole powers.
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.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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