“The View” co-host Ana Navarro falsely claimed Friday that the parents of Laken Riley, the 22-year-old allegedly killed by an illegal immigrant, were present at the State of the Union.
Biden addressed Riley’s death after Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene heckled him in the middle of his speech to say her name. The president then lifted a white button symbolizing solidarity with Riley and addressed her as “an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal.”
“He turned the immigration issue, which I agree with you is the most difficult issue he’s facing, and turned it into one of the most strongest moments of that speech. They thought they were going to battle him by wearing the buttons of Laken Riley. He took it, and he looked at her parents and he offered condolences. He made it, you know, he went and he rattled off all the points that were in that bipartisan immigration legislation that Donald Trump and his minions sabotaged.”
Republican Georgia Rep. Mike Collins said he invited Riley’s parents to attend the State of the Union, but they declined and decided to grieve the loss of their daughter from home, according to Fox News.
Riley died allegedly at the hands of Jose Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan illegal immigrant who allegedly caused “bodily harm” by “seriously disfiguring her body” and skull while she jogged near the University of Georgia (UGA), where she studied to become a nurse, Channel 2 News reported. (RELATED: ‘Needs To Do Better’: Liberals Slam Biden’s SOTU Comment Calling Laken Riley’s Alleged Murderer ‘An Illegal’)
Biden came under scrutiny for not mentioning Riley during his visit to the border in Brownsville, Texas at the end of February. He ignored Riley’s death in a Feb. 28 speech about crime.
Former President Donald Trump said he had spoken to Riley’s parents during his visit to Eagle Pass, Texas, to address the border crisis.
“Just one week ago, a beautiful 22-year-old nursing student from Georgia was barbarically attacked, almost unrecognizable while she was out on her morning run. She was on a morning run,” Trump said in a Feb. 29 speech in Eagle Pass. “She was a beautiful young woman, she was a great person, best nursing student there was. I spoke to her parents yesterday, they’re incredible people that are devastated beyond belief. She was beautiful in so many ways and brutally assaulted, horrifically beaten, kidnapped and savagely murdered.”
Democratic California Rep. Katie Porter told CNN’s Erin Burnett that “one instance” of an illegal immigrant murdering a citizen should not change U.S. policy. CNN’s Jake Tapper accused Republicans of “seizing” on Riley’s death to attack Biden over the border crisis.
Authorities arrested a separate Venezuelan migrant who allegedly raped a 14-year-old girl in Virginia, the New York post reported. The suspect, 32-year-old Renzo Mendoza Montes, entered the U.S. illegally and was later released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in September, law enforcement told Fox News.