Biden apologizes for calling illegal alien who killed Laken Riley an ‘illegal’

President Joe Biden apologized Saturday for calling the illegal alien who killed Georgia nursing student Laken Riley an “illegal” and suggested illegal immigration is helping America.

“Look, they built the country. The reason our economy is growing,” the president told MSNBC in an interview when talking about illegal immigrants.

Biden had faced criticism for two days from liberal Democrats in Congress for referring to the man who killed Riley as an “illegal.” He said Saturday that his use of the term was wrong.

“I shouldn’t have used illegal,” Biden said. “It’s undocumented.”

“And look, when I spoke about the difference between Trump and me, one of the things I talked about in the border was his, the way he talks about ‘vermin,’ the way he talks about these people ‘polluting the blood,’ ” he added. “I talked about what I’m not going to do. What I won’t do. I’m not going to treat any, any, any of these people with disrespect.” 

The MSNBC host, Jonathan Capehart, pressed the president if he had regret for his choice of language.

“Yes,” Biden responded.