(UnitedHeadlines.com) – In a statement on Twitter, House Speaker and Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson criticized President Joe Biden after he apologized for using the word “illegal” instead of “undocumented” to describe the migrant accused of murdering Georgia college student Laken Riley.
In the Twitter post, Johnson said Biden’s apology cowers “to his base” and shows “deference to a man who deserves none.” He called Biden an “embarrassment,” adding that he should be offering Laken’s family an apology and not the man accused of murdering her, Jose Antonio Ibarra.
Biden’s apology comes after he described Ibarra as “an illegal” during the March 7 State of the Union address. Biden mentioned Laken, whom he referred to as Lincoln, only at the urging of Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who told Biden to “say her name.”
Biden then backtracked on his use of the word illegal during an interview March 9 with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart. He stated he would not disrespect “any of these people,” adding that “they built the country.”
Johnson was not the only one to criticize Biden’s apology. Former President Donald Trump, who met with Riley’s family March 9, also blasted Biden for his apology to her alleged murderer.
In September 2022, after illegally crossing the border near El Paso, Texas, Ibarra was released into the U.S. for further processing, according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Almost a year later, he was arrested in New York City after he allegedly endangered a child. He was then released and went to live with his brother, who also illegally crossed the border, in Athens, Georgia.
Riley, a nursing student, was murdered while out for a run. Ibarra has been charged with murder, malice murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, aggravated battery, and concealing the death of another in relation to her murder. He is also accused of “disfiguring” her skull, according to charging documents.
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