House Republican Leader Mike Johnson on Sunday asked Democratic President Joe Biden for an “apology” for his handling of the student’s murder, a crime in which the suspect is a Venezuelan migrant and has returned immigration to the center of the election campaign. presidential elections in November, AFP and Agerpres report.

The 81-year-old Democratic president “humiliates himself in front of his (electoral) base and shows respect for a person who does not deserve it. This man is an illegal immigrant who brutally killed Laken Riley,” Mike Johnson wrote on the X social network on Sunday.

Laken Riley, a 22-year-old medical student, was killed last month while taking a morning jog in University of Georgia Park. The suspect was detained.

Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, who is likely to face Biden again in November, see the case as a consequence of the current administration’s overly permissive immigration policies.

Before taking the floor in Congress for his State of the Union address on Thursday, Joe Biden briefly came face-to-face with Georgia Republican-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene, who presented the president with a badge that read: “Name him: Laken Riley .”

During his speech, the president displayed a badge and gave the name of the slain student, though he mumbled it slightly, saying “Lincoln Riley” instead of “Lakeen Riley.” “She was an innocent student who was killed by an illegal immigrant. That’s for sure,” Biden said. “But how many of the thousands of people killed were killed by illegal immigrants?” he clarified, assuring that, unlike his rival Trump, he would not “demonize” immigrants.

However, his statement drew criticism not only from Republicans, but also from his own Democratic camp, who reproached him for using the term “illegal” in reference to the suspected migrant.

Therefore, in an interview with MSNBC on Saturday, Joe Biden retracted his statement, saying that it was about an “undocumented” migrant.