LUPE Votes denounces Biden for describing an undocumented immigrant as ‘an illegal’

SAN JUAN, Texas – LUPE Votes has denounced President Biden for using the phrase “an illegal” when referring to an undocumented immigrant in his State of the Union address.

Biden used the phrase when confronted with heckling by U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. The Georgia Republican said Laken Riley, a Georgia student who was allegedly killed by an undocumented immigrant. Biden repeated Greene saying Riley was, “killed by an illegal. That’s right.”

“We are shocked and offended at President Biden using the slur ‘illegal immigrant’ during this speech, followed by him taking the side of Republican extremists and suggesting that immigrants are dangerous,” said Dani Marrero Hi, deputy director of LUPE Votes, a sibling organization of La Unión del Pueblo Entero. 

“This rhetoric is a complete abandonment of Biden’s early approach as president to protect immigrant families and pledge to combat Trump’s xenophobic and violent rhetoric.”

U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro also criticized the president for using the term “an illegal.”

Castro, D-San Antonio, told The Texas Tribune: “It’s dangerous rhetoric. And I think that the president is getting bad advice from his advisers and speech writers. That kind of rhetoric is what inspired the people who killed Aaron Martinez. Martinez, was a North Texas man who was killed by his neighbor. The neighbor repeatedly harassed Martinez’s family over their Latino ethnicity. The Tribune said Castro brought Martinez’s wife, Priscilla Martinez, as his guest to the State of the Union address.

“I just don’t get why the president will go down that road,” Castro added. “I don’t think it’s helpful to him or to the Democratic Party.”

Interviewed later by journalist Jonathan T. Capehart on MSNBC, Biden apologized for using the term “an illegal.”

Biden said: “I spoke about the difference between Trump and me and one of the things I talked about at the border was the way he talks about vermin, the way he talks about these people (immigrants) polluting the blood. I talked about what I’m not going to do, what I won’t do. I’m not going to treat any of these people with disrespect. They built the country. The reason our economy is growing (is because of immigrants). We have to control the border… but I don’t share his (Trump’s) view at all.”

Asked by Capehart if he regretted using the word “an illegal,” Biden answered: “Yes.”

LUPE Votes’ Marrero Hi also denounced Biden for promoting what she called anti-immigrant legislation. She was referring to bipartisan border security legislation crafted by a group of U.S. senators.

“What is actually dangerous is the Biden administration and Republicans continuing to promote failing immigration policies that emphasize detention, deportation, deterrence and military tactics over upholding human and civil rights to protect people seeking safety at our nation’s doorstep,” Marrero Hi said.

“Every day, we see families separated due to detention and deportations, asylum-seekers stripped of their human rights, and the death toll rising for people who die trying to find safety at our border. 

“President Biden should not follow the lead of Republican extremists in an attempt to score cheap political points when there are lives on the line of people who are immigrants and seeking asylum. We demand immediate permanent protections for all immigrants and asylum-seekers.”

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