Joe Biden’s Immigration Language Has Gone Too Far for Some Democrats

The president’s use of the term “illegal” was disconcerting to some members who were already alarmed by his rhetoric.

Joe Biden Marjorie Taylor Greene
Some Democrats aren’t pleased with President Joe Biden after his State of the Union exchange with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Shawn Thew/AP

Some members of Congress are frustrated with how President Joe Biden spoke about undocumented immigrants during the State of the Union, spotlighting continued tensions between the president and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus over the president’s handling of immigration.

During his address, Biden went off script in response to shouting from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and spoke about a woman who was, in his words, “killed by an illegal.”

“There was a lot of good in President Biden’s speech tonight, but his rhetoric about immigrants was incendiary and wrong,” Rep. Joaquin Castro, a CHC member, posted on X, adding it was “dangerously close to language from Donald Trump.”