President Biden had an impromptu exchange with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) during Thursday’s State of the Union address after the conservative firebrand heckled him on immigration and urged him to acknowledge a University of Georgia student who was killed last month.
As Biden spoke about a bipartisan border security bill in the Senate that was tanked in part by former President Trump’s opposition, Greene, a fierce Trump ally, called out “Laken Riley,” the name of the student who was killed by a Venezuelan migrant who entered the country illegally in 2022, according to police.
Greene wore a red “Make America Great Again” hat as she sat in the chamber.
Biden paused his prepared remarks and pulled out a pin with Riley’s name on it being worn by many GOP lawmakers.
“Laken Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal. That’s right,” Biden said. “But how many thousands of people being killed by legals? To her parents I say, my heart goes out to you having lost children myself.”
“But look, if we change the dynamic at the border, people pay these smugglers,” he added.
Biden went on to pressure Republican lawmakers to take up the Senate bill that would bolster border security, restrict certain asylum claims and more, and he sought to contrast his own rhetoric with that of Trump, his likely November general election opponent.
“If my predecessor is watching instead of playing politics and pressuring members of Congress to block this bill, join me in telling Congress to pass it,” Biden said.
“We can do it together. But here’s what I will not do,” he added. “I will not demonize immigrants saying they ‘poison the blood of our country’ as he said in his own words.”