The White House claims President Joe Biden's clarification that the murderer of 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley is "undocumented" was not an apology for his initial reference to him as "illegal" during Thursday's State of the Union (SOTU) address.
During Biden's Thursday speech, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene shouted out "Say her name!" in reference Riley, who was allegedly murdered by an illegal immigrant from Venezuela late last month.
"Lincoln Riley," Biden said, mispronouncing her name. "An innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal."
During a Saturday interview with MSNBC's Jonathan Capehart, Biden addressed his use of the term during his SOTU address.
"I shouldn't have used 'illegal,'" the president said before correcting himself. "It's 'undocumented.'"
While en route to a Monday New Hampshire event, White House deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton attempted to further clarify Biden's remarks.
"First of all, I want to be really clear about something: The President absolutely did not apologize," Dalton said, per The Daily Mail. "There was no apology anywhere in that conversation. He did not apologize. He used a different word."
According to Dalton, Biden spoke "passionately about knowing what it means to lose a child and extended his deep grief and condolences to Laken Riley's family in front of the entire country, in the House chamber."
"Beyond that, I think it's unconscionable that there are some people who are playing politics with this young woman's tragic murder," she added.
During his MSNBC interview, Biden noted distinctions between himself and former President Donald Trump.
"The way he talks about 'vermin,' the way he talks about these people polluting the blood," Biden said of Trump's comments on illegal migrants. "I talked about what I'm not gonna do. ... I'm not gonna treat any of these people with disrespect."
A series of progressive Democratic members of Congress took issue with Biden's use of the term "illegal" following his SOTU address, including Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro, and Illinois Rep. Chuy Garcia.
Efforts to reclassify "illegal" immigrants as "newcomers" or "undocumented" have emerged in recent years in an effort to encourage "inclusive language," per the Department of Homeland Security.
“This change is designed to encourage more inclusive language in the agency’s outreach efforts, internal documents and in overall communication with stakeholders, partners, and the general public,” the department wrote in their 2021 memo. "The guidance does not affect legal, policy or other operational documents, including forms, where using terms (such as applicant, petitioner, etc.) as defined by the Immigration and Nationality Act would be the most appropriate."
