U.S. President Joe Biden questioned how many thousands of people are killed by people with legal residency status, not how many were killed by “illegals," after he was interrupted by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene during his State of the Union address on March 7.
During the speech, Greene had asked about Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was allegedly murdered last month by an undocumented immigrant released on parole.
Republican politicians have linked the incident to Biden’s immigration policies on social media.
Videos by CSPAN and Reuters capture the moment. Playing those videos slowly as well as the official White House transcript of the speech show that Biden asks, “but how many thousands of people are being killed by legals?”
“It’s about Laken Riley,” Greene shouted. “Say her name!”
Biden responded by repeating Riley’s name and saying, “An innocent woman who was killed by an illegal. That’s right, but how many thousands of people are being killed by legals?”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Research has shown undocumented immigrants – and immigrants in general – have lower crime rates than U.S. citizens.
VERDICT
Misleading. U.S. President Joe Biden did not ask how many thousands of people are being killed by “illegals” during his State of the Union speech. Rather, he asked how many were killed by people with legal residency status.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work.
