President Biden had an impromptu trade with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) throughout Thursday’s State of the Union deal with after the conservative firebrand heckled him on immigration and urged him to acknowledge a College of Georgia pupil who was killed final month.
As Biden spoke a few bipartisan border safety invoice within the Senate that was tanked partially by former President Trump’s opposition, Greene, a fierce Trump ally, known as out “Laken Riley,” the identify of the coed who was killed by a Venezuelan migrant who entered the nation illegally in 2022, in response to police.
Greene wore a purple “Make America Nice Once more” hat as she sat within the chamber.
Biden paused his ready remarks and pulled out a pin with Riley’s identify on it being worn by many GOP lawmakers.
“Laken Riley, an harmless younger lady who was killed by an unlawful. That’s proper,” Biden mentioned. “However what number of hundreds of individuals being killed by illegals? To her dad and mom I say, my coronary heart goes out to you having misplaced kids myself.”
“However look, if we alter the dynamic on the border, individuals pay these smugglers,” he added.
Biden went on to stress Republican lawmakers to take up the Senate invoice that will bolster border safety, prohibit sure asylum claims and extra, and he sought to distinction his personal rhetoric with that of Trump, his probably November common election opponent.
“If my predecessor is watching as a substitute of enjoying politics and pressuring members of Congress to dam this invoice, be a part of me in telling Congress to cross it,” Biden mentioned.
“We are able to do it collectively. However right here’s what I’ll not do,” he added. “I’ll not demonize immigrants saying they ‘poison the blood of our nation’ as he mentioned in his personal phrases.”
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This materials will not be revealed, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.