OPINION:
According to the embargoed version of Thursday’s State of the Union address, which journalists previewed, President Biden planned to stay silent about the late Laken Riley, the 22-year-old Georgia nursing student who was killed while she jogged on Feb. 22, allegedly by Venezuelan illegal alien Jose Antonio Ibarra.
Mr. Ibarra, 26, entered the U.S. illegally in September 2022 under Mr. Biden. Bleeding-heart Democratic prosecutors in New York City and Athens, Georgia, liberated Mr. Ibarra after police arrested him on less-serious charges. Before long, police say, he fatally crushed the young woman’s skull.
But when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, taunted Mr. Biden to “say her name,” he brandished a pin that read: “Say Her Name — Laken Riley.” Mangling it anyway, Mr. Biden declared that “Lincoln” Riley “was killed by an illegal.”
Rather than express outrage that federal and local Democrats failed Laken Riley and let someone with no right to be here kill her, House Democrats exploded over what they consider the real atrocity: Mr. Biden’s saying “illegal.”
House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi of California told CNN about Mr. Biden: “He should’ve said ‘undocumented.’” Never mind that illegal aliens often carry foreign identity documents or U.S. driver’s licenses. Millions of these “undocumented” people occupy this country.
Rep. Chuy Garcia, Illinois Democrat, posted on X: “As a proud immigrant, I’m extremely disappointed to hear President Biden use the word ‘illegal.’”
“Biden’s remark about immigrants was ugly and uncalled for,” Rep. Julian Castro, Texas Democrat, complained via X. “He’s piling on to Trump’s dangerous rhetoric.”
Update: On Saturday, former President Donald Trump met with and comforted Laken Riley’s devastated family in Rome, Georgia. “We share your grief,” Mr. Trump said.
Meanwhile, that day, Mr. Biden apologized for how he described the man charged with murder in Laken’s death. “I shouldn’t have used ’illegal,’” Mr. Biden told MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart. “It’s ’undocumented.’”
Mr. Capehart asked: “So, you regret using that word?”
“Yes,” Mr. Biden replied.
But Mr. Biden’s use of “illegal” was as rare among Democrats as their linguistic whitewashing of illegal aliens is ubiquitous.
The White House recently triggered a backlash by calling illegals “newcomers.”
Democrats use the euphemism “migrants” to normalize people who do not belong here. “Migrants” sound like lost tourists who merit open doors, soup and blankets.
The left also likes “asylum-seekers,” even though, under Mr. Biden, some 1.7 million known “gotaways” zoomed past the Border Patrol without claiming asylum. Exhausted, beleaguered agents wave others through with little talk of asylum. “Come on in,” the message goes. “Enjoy America!”
Democratic New York Mayor Eric Adams, the $53 Million Man, disgustingly calls illegal aliens “our newest Americans.” If a dozen people broke into his house and demanded dinner, would he call them “the newest members of the Adams family”?
This is typical left-wing wordplay. When the food stamp program became unpopular, the left rebranded it as “SNAP,” for Special Nutritional Assistance Program. SNAP? Sounds fun!
“Child sexual mutilation” sounds nasty. So the left peddles “gender-affirming care.”
Normal people justifiably hate pedophiles. So the left now champions “minor-attracted persons.”
Yay! Let’s give SNAP to MAPs!
Meanwhile, hard-left House Democrats Cori Bush of Missouri, Sylvia Garcia of Texas, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, and others lectured Mr. Biden: “No human is illegal.”
These — ahem — lawmakers know better.
The U.S. Code cites “illegal aliens” at least a dozen times in a database maintained by Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute. These include statutes governing “illegal aliens incarcerated in Federal and State prisons” and “illegal aliens convicted of felonies in any Federal or State court” (8 U.S. Code § 1366) as well as “eligibility of illegal aliens for State and local public benefits” (8 U.S. Code § 1621).
So, according to federal law, these people are “illegal aliens.” In fact, some humans are illegal.
Americans should use the phrase “illegal aliens” until all of them are deported and no others invade this republic.
The left frets that “illegal alien” might discomfort these lawbreakers.
Too bad.
Better yet, good.
Every illegal alien’s first act in America was to break U.S. Code 8 § 1325 — Improper Entry by Alien. Violating the borders of the United states is an invasion. Period.
Legal immigrants deserve the care, support and affection of every American. May they all thrive here in peace and prosperity.
But the comfort of illegal aliens should be the least of this country’s concerns.
• Deroy Murdock is a Manhattan-based Fox News contributor.
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