Biden apologizes for calling Laken Riley's suspected killer an 'illegal immigrant,' Trump 'profoundly honored' to meet slain student's family

President Joe Biden apologized for describing the suspected killer of Laken Hope Riley as an "illegal immigrant." Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump met the family of the slain nursing student before a rally in Georgia.

During his State of the Union address, the president was confronted by Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-Ga.), who yelled at Biden, "Say her name!"

The 81-year-old president flubbed Riley's name, which angered Laken's mother and she called him "pathetic."

Biden said during the SOTU speech, "Lincoln — Lincoln Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal."

As Blaze News previously reported, several Democrats were incensed that Biden called Riley's suspected killer an "illegal immigrant." This is despite the murder suspect, Jose Antonio Ibarra, being a Venezuelan nation who crossed into the United States illegally in September 2022.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) declared, "He should have said 'undocumented.'"

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) lectured the president, "Let me be clear: No human being is illegal."

Biden walked back his "illegal immigrant" remark in an MSNBC interview that aired on Saturday night.

MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart asked Biden about calling the suspected murderer of Riley an illegal immigrant.

Biden replied, "An undocumented person. And I shouldn’t have used 'illegal.' It’s 'undocumented.'"

Capehart asked Biden if he regretted using the illegal immigrant term, and he replied, "Yes."

Biden quickly switched gears by pointing fingers at Trump.

Biden said of Trump, "He talks about 'vermin.' The way he talks about these people 'polluting the blood.' I talked about what I’m not going to do. What I won’t do, I’m not going to treat any of these people with disrespect."

"Look, they built the country," Biden proclaimed.

Prior to a rally in Georgia on Saturday night, Trump said he was "profoundly honored to meet with Riley's family and friends backstage.

"I met her beautiful mother and family backstage," Trump told the crowd at the rally in Rome. "They said she was like the best. She was always the best to us. They admit that she was the best, and she was the first in her class. She was going to be the best nurse. She was the best nursing student. She was always the best. She was the brightest light in every room, they told me."

Trump continued, "She was the whole world to her parents and to her sister and just to the whole family."

Trump also bashed Biden for apologizing for calling the slain student's alleged killer an illegal immigrant, which elicited a chorus of boos from the crowd.

"I say he was an illegal alien. He was an illegal immigrant. He was an illegal migrant," Trump declared. "And he shouldn't have been in our country, and he never would have been under the Trump policies."

"And Biden should be apologizing for apologizing to this killer," Trump stated.

Trump blamed Biden for having "no intention of stopping the deadly invasion that stole precious Laken's American life."

Trump said of Democrats refusal to say the term illegal immigrants, "They have a new name that's even worse. They have a new name. You know what the new name is? Neighbor. They want to call them neighbor. They want to call them another name – newcomer. A newcomer to our country. Are we going crazy, or what?"

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