President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol, Thursday, March 7, 2024, in Washington. Standing at left is Vice President Kamala Harris and seated at right is House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. (Shawn Thew/Pool via AP) (Shawn Thew/Pool via AP)
"Lincoln Riley [sic]," he said. "An innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal, that’s right."
The use of the term "illegal," even in reference to an alleged illegal immigrant murderer, rankled some Democrats.
"Let me be clear: No human being is illegal," said Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on X, formerly known as Twitter.
"As a proud immigrant, I'm extremely disappointed to hear President Biden use the word ‘illegal,’" Rep. Chuy Garcia, D-Ill., said.
Many on the left have, for years, urged against the use of the term "illegal" to refer to illegal immigrants, claiming it is dehumanizing, preferring terms like "undocumented" or simply just calling them immigrants.
It’s also a term that the Biden administration itself has warned against using. In 2021, a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) memo urged officials to refer to "undocumented individual" or "undocumented noncitizen" rather than "illegal alien."
"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," a spokesperson said at the time. "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."
Since then, "undocumented noncitizen" is commonly used to refer to illegal immigrants in DHS press releases. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will also often refer to those "unlawfully present" in the country.
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On Thursday, Biden focused more on urging Congress to pass the bipartisan border agreement, which includes staffing, funding and a mechanism to stop entries into the U.S. when it exceeds an average of 5,000 a day. But conservatives have said the mechanism normalizes already high levels of illegal immigration and that Biden can fix the border himself.
"Look folks, it's been a simple choice," Biden said. "We can fight about fixing the border or we can fix it. I'm ready to fix it. Send me the border bill now."
Adam Shaw is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital, primarily covering immigration and border security.
He can be reached at adam.shaw2@fox.com or on Twitter.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-state-of-the-union-uses-term-illegal-immigrants-his-dhs-warned-against-2021