Mike Johnson urges Biden apology to Laken Riley’s family

Speaker Mike Johnson accused President Joe Biden of showing “deference” to the man charged with killing 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley by saying he regrets referring to him as an “illegal” immigrant during his State of the Union address.

In a Sunday X post, Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, shared a clip of an MSNBC interview last weekend where Biden stated that he regrets using the word “illegal” instead of “undocumented” to refer to Jose Antonio Ibarra, a 26-year-old Venezuelan national arrested in connection with Riley’s Feb. 22 killing. 

Johnson described Biden’s behavior as an “embarrassment.”

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“The president is cowering to his base and showing deference to a man who deserves none,” Johnson wrote. “This man is an illegal immigrant who brutally murdered Laken Riley. President Biden should be apologizing to Laken’s family.” 

Ibarra entered the country illegally through El Paso, Texas, on Sept. 8, 2022. Authorities arrested Ibarra last month following the discovery of Riley’s body on the University of Georgia campus. The 22-year-old was killed while out for a run. Police later determined that she died from blunt force trauma. 

During his State of the Union address last Thursday, Biden acknowledged the Augusta University nursing student’s murder when discussing his administration’s border policies. Biden mistakenly called her “Lincoln Riley” and stated that she was killed by an “illegal.” Considering the term “illegal” is considered politically incorrect by Democrats, Biden walked back that comment during the Saturday MSNBC interview. 

“I’m not going to treat any of these people with disrespect,” Biden said.

Fellow Democrat and former Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., noted Biden’s State of the Union gaffe during an appearance on CNN Thursday night. 

“Well, we usually say ‘undocumented,'” Pelosi said. “He said ‘illegal.’ I don’t think it’s a big deal. I don’t think it’s a big deal because I think his focus was on the sympathy for the family. It’s a terrible tragedy. … It’s a terrible situation that anybody losing a child or a family member. It’s a terrible situation, but I think he handled it well.”

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., also responded on Sunday to Biden’s remarks. During a Fox News “Sunday Morning Futures” interview, the potential GOP vice presidential pick called the president’s apology “disgusting.” 

“No one can explain that. Talk about disgusting,” Scott stated. “Joe Biden is more worried about using the word ‘illegal’ or ‘undocumented.’ The word he should use is ‘murderer.’ Here, we have Donald Trump, our president, sitting down with Laken Riley’s family. And you have Joe Biden apologizing for what word he used.” 

Biden also mentioned former President Donald Trump during his Saturday MSNBC interview, claiming that he is different from Trump and does not want to treat people who unlawfully enter the country with “disrespect.” 

“Look, they built the country. The reason our economy is growing. We have to control the border and more orderly flow, but I don’t share his view at all,” Biden said, answering “yes” when asked if he regretted using the term “illegal.” 

As Fox5 Atlanta reported, Ibarra and his brother Diego Ibarra had previous encounters with police before the former became a suspect in Riley’s murder.

An October 2022 field report from Athens-Clarke County police cited by the outlet showed that both Ibarras were charged with shoplifting from Walmart. Since the shoplifting charge was a misdemeanor, both Ibarras were cited and released on scene. 

Diego Ibarra faces up to 10 years in prison for possessing a fraudulent green card, and federal prosecutors also believe the man has ties to Tren de Aragua, one of Venezuela’s largest criminal organizations. A memorandum provided to The Christian Post included photos of Ibarra posing with illegal guns and flashing gang signs. 

According to affidavits shared last month by The Associated Press, Ibarra is accused of “disfiguring [Riley’s] skull” and dragging the woman’s body to a secluded location, which brought the additional charge of concealing the death of another person. 

While the court documents don’t disclose the object used to kill the nursing student, the report stated that the murder is believed to have occurred between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Feb. 22.