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Republicans are hitting back at the White House after the Biden administration appeared to blame GOP lawmakers for a broken immigration system when asked about Laken Riley’s murder.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre made the comments during an interview with CNN host John Berman.
She was asked to respond to Republican accusations that the Biden administration’s border policies have led to the deaths of Americans, like Riley, at the hands of illegal immigrants.
Berman highlighted a quote from Sen. Josh Hawley, R-MO., who said: “these deaths are on [President Biden].”
Laken Riley poses for a photo posted to Facebook. Riley, a nursing student, was found dead near a lake on the University of Georgia campus on Thursday, February 22, 2024. (Allyson Phillips/Facebook)
“I want to offer our condolences to the family of Laken, I mean this is a horrific, horrific loss for any family, and obviously, whoever is found guilty, we need to make sure that that happens, and obviously, we don’t want to see anything like that happen again,” Jean-Pierre said, before pivoting to the broader question of the border crisis.
“But here’s the thing, we have done the work, to make sure we’re dealing with a broken immigration system. The Republicans have gotten in the way. They have gotten in the way. And that’s what we continue to see over and over and over again,” Jean-Pierre said.
She continued: “And so look, this is a serious matter, that‘s why the president is going to the border. The president was at the border a year ago in El Paso, visiting the border back in January 2023. He put a comprehensive, a comprehensive immigration policy on day one.”
Asylum seekers cross the Rio Grande from Mexico into the United States on September 30, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images)
Jean-Pierre also made similar comments during an earlier press briefing, in which she said Republicans were “getting in the way,” when it came to fixing the border.
In response, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said the “Biden White House blaming anyone else but themselves for the effects of their open border policies is insane.”
“Under President Biden’s open border policies, American lives have been lost. Laken Riley’s is the latest in that tragic count. At every turn, this administration has refused to hold themselves accountable — blaming everyone and everything but their own policy failures,” Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, said in a statement.
“With a wave of a pen, President Biden can take action on border security, but he refuses to do so. There is no excuse for the President of the United States to turn his back on communities that are clearly in danger. We need action now.”
“It’s telling that the White House can’t even admit the truth: an illegal immigrant killed Laken Riley and Joe Biden’s open border is to blame,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-MO., said in a statement. “It’s time for the White House to take responsibility for their dangerous policies and take action before more Americans are hurt.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that Laken Riley’s death “was caused by the Biden administration breaking the law.”
“If I were her family, and this guy actually did it, I would sue the hell out of the federal government because the Biden administration has been breaking the law for over two years now when it comes to [immigration] parole.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, accused Democrats of viewing American deaths as “acceptable collateral damage.”
“They view these murders as just the price we have to pay to advance their open-border agenda,” Cruz tweeted Thursday.
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Laken Riley, a Georgia nursing student, was found murdered on the campus of the University of Georgia earlier this month after going for a run.
Jose Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan national in the U.S. illegally, was charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call and concealing the death of another in connection to Riley’s death.
This all comes as President Biden and his GOP rival, former President Donald Trump, made dueling trips to the southern border on Thursday, underscoring how central immigration has become in the 2024 presidential race.
An influx of migrants on the Gateway International Bridge in Brownsville, Texas. A Biden administration plan would force many migrants to remain in Texas as their asylum cases play out, according to reports. (Texas DPS)
Biden slammed Republicans for a bipartisan border deal that collapsed earlier this month. Meanwhile, Trump continued to dial up his attacks on illegal immigrants, deriding them as “terrorists” and criminals.
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Trump was in Eagle Pass Thursday, roughly 325 miles northwest of where Biden visited in Brownsville.
Fox News Digital’s Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.
