He then pivoted to arguing for a stalled bipartisan Senate bill calling for rubber-stamping the ongoing release of millions more llegal border crossers
By Steven Nelson, Diana Glebova and Josh Christenson
WASHINGTON — President Biden stunned listeners Thursday as he veered from his highly partisan State of the Union address script to call out Georgia nursing student Laken Riley’s murder by an illegal immigrant — erring twice by calling her “Lincoln.”
Biden, 81, began his campaign-style speech by highlighting his best-polling positions — railing against former President Donald Trump on issues such as abortion, NATO and the Capitol riot…
…but was derailed by Republicans’ persistent heckling, finally responding to their demands that he say Riley’s name hours after the House passed legislation in her honor to require that migrants who commit certain crimes be sent to federal custody.
The president emphasized the bill also had funding to boost the processing of asylum claims, as Senate GOP negotiator James Lankford (R-OK) nodded along and mouthed “That’s true” — and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) shook his head and rolled his eyes.
“Look, if we change the dynamic at the border — people pay the smugglers $8,000 to get across the border because they know if they get in the country, it’s six to eight years before they have a hearing …
“But if it’s only six weeks, the idea is it’s highly unlikely that people will pay that money and go all that way, knowing that they’ll be able to be kicked out quickly,” Biden said.
Republicans had hounded Biden for not addressing Riley’s murder since her body was found Feb. 22 on the University of Georgia’s campus.
Authorities say Riley was killed by 26-year-old Venezuelan migrant Jose Antonio Ibarra, who was released near El Paso in September 2022 pursuant to Biden administration policies and subsequently busted by police but not held in jail for allegedly endangering a child in New York and shoplifting in Georgia.
Republicans accuse Biden of unleashing the border crisis by terminating former President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy that required most asylum seekers to await rulings on their claim while staying south of the border.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), who represents Staten Island, pressed Biden to use his existing presidential authority to reverse course on border policy shortly before his speech, pulling him aside as he walked down the central aisle of the House chamber.
Malliotakis “told him to secure the border, Americans are dying. He used his authority to dismantle it, he can use it to put it back together,” her spokeswoman Natalie Baldassarre told The Post.
Republicans note that Biden largely ignored the border issue until recently — with the White House initially insisting that a surge in crossings that coincided with Biden taking office was simply seasonal or a reflection of global issues and not US policies.
December saw an all-time monthly record with more than 302,000 people arrested for illegally entering from Mexico — equivalent to the population of Pittsburgh.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in January that more than 85% of those detained for illegally crossing the border were being released into the US — up from 71% in October and 74% in November. ##