President Biden during his 2024 State of the Union sparred with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), holding up a button with the name of Laken Riley that she gave him after the congresswoman interrupted his speech.
“Laken Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal,” Biden said while delivering remarks Thursday night. “But how many of thousands of people being killed by illegals?”
Biden expressed his condolences to the family of Riley, a Georgia nursing student who was allegedly killed by an undocumented immigrant, while appealing to Congress to take action on a bipartisan border security bill.
“If we change the dynamic at the border — people pay these smugglers $8,000 to get across the border,” Biden said. “It's highly unlikely that people will pay that money and come all that way knowing that they'll be able to be kicked out quickly.
“Folks, I would respectfully suggest to my Republican friends owe it to the American people: get this bill done. We need to act now.”
Greene had given Biden the button before the State of the Union, demanding that he acknowledge the killing of Riley. Republicans have blamed the president for her death, arguing his policies have resulted in undocumented immigrants entering the country and committing crimes.
