One of the many issues House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) took with President Joe Biden's State of the Union address Thursday night was the fact that he didn't get around to mentioning the worsening border crisis until some 40 minutes into the speech.
For Biden's critics, it further proved the point that the issue simply was not a priority for Biden, that it was something he wanted to simply go away rather than address, in a crucial election year that has seen his approval ratings on issues like illegal immigration continue to tank.
But on Thursday, as Biden was likely getting prepped by his handlers in advance of his speech, an illegal immigrant who was attempting to cross the southern border in Eagle Pass, Texas, inadvertently cut a tailor-made ad for the GOP on the topic, standing behind a barbed wire fence while wearing a Biden-Harris 2020 t-shirt.
When he was reminded by someone off-camera that Biden and Harris were the President and Vice President, the man wearing the t-shirt said he was wearing it in hopes that they would let him in:
In a conversation with Fox News, the man did not appear to know what "Biden Harris 2020" meant, asking who those people were, when questioned about where he had gotten the garment.
When the man, who was among a group who appeared to include women and children, was informed that they are the president and vice president, he came up with an explanation.
"Ahhhh. Then I have it on so they can let me in," the man said in response, before laughing. Others around him joined in on the laughter. The two groups were separated by barbed wire, with what appeared to be the Rio Grande behind the migrants.
Watch:
NEW: Honduran migrant crossed in Eagle Pass wearing a Biden-Harris 2020 shirt telling us “… I have it on so they can let me in.” @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/9Pg1HIqrBb
— Griff Jenkins (@GriffJenkins) March 7, 2024
I should note that this isn't the first time something like this has happened. In March 2021, two months after Biden's inauguration, a large group of illegal immigrants were photographed at the Mexico/California border. In several images, they were seen wearing Biden shirts with the message "Please let us in!":
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) March 4, 2021
As RedState reported at the time, they were near the San Ysidro crossing port in Tijuana, Baja California. During their demonstration, they took a knee:
At one point, migrants stood next to each other and took a knee as part of a demonstration urging the president to keep his campaign promise and increase the amount of immigration into the United States and ease former President Donald Trump’s law enforcement mechanisms.
Though the border crisis has been a hot topic of conversation since well before the November 2020 presidential election, it has taken on a renewed sense of urgency in the aftermath of the murder of 22-year-old Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, who two weeks ago was killed after she went for her morning run on the University of Georgia campus.
Twenty-six-year-old Venezuelan illegal immigrant Jose Antonio Ibarra has been arrested and charged with her kidnapping and murder.
During the State of the Union, Biden was confronted by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who demanded he say Riley's name since the Biden White House has largely avoided the issue of her death. When Biden did attempt to say it, he flubbed, calling her "Lincoln Riley."
Riley's mother, Allyson Phillips, blasted Biden in response, calling him "pathetic!"
"If you are going to say her name (even when forced to do so) at least say the right name!” she wrote in a Facebook comment.
Related: Contrasts Between Border Towns Biden and Trump Are Visiting Makes Biden Look Even More Pathetic
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