How Joe Biden's use of term 'illegal' spilled into the Kari Lake vs. Ruben Gallego race

President Joe Biden's comments about the death of a nursing student during his State of the Union address has sparked criticism from both sides of the aisle and tension in Arizona's closely watched U.S. Senate race.

During his fourth State of Union address to Congress, Biden called an undocumented Venezuelan immigrant, Jose Ibarra, who was charged in connection with the death of 22-year-old Laken Riley, "an illegal." His use of the term earned quick blowback from immigration advocates.

In a Saturday MSNBC interview, Biden said "I shouldn't have used 'illegal.' It's undocumented."

The political debate over Biden's use of the word has spilled into the Senate race in Arizona.

Catch up: Biden said he regrets calling man charged in connection with Laken Riley's death an 'illegal'

In 2015, Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., co-sponsored legislation that aimed to end the use of "illegal alien" in federal law and U.S. Code. The legislation proposed removing language characterizing immigrants as "aliens" and replace it with "foreign national." The term "illegal alien" would also be replaced with the term "undocumented foreign national."

In a 2015 interview, Gallego said the bill was "an effort to use a more modern word" because the word "alien" "harms the person who is trying to go through due process." The legislation was supported by other Arizonans in the U.S. House of Representatives, including Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., who also co-sponsored the bill.

Gallego, now the state's leading Democratic contender for the Senate, declined to comment directly on the furor over Biden's word choice. He used the opportunity to criticize Kari Lake, the Republican Senate front-runner.

"This is a distraction. We need to address our border crisis but Republicans like Kari Lake refused to support a Border Patrol-backed bipartisan border deal," Gallego said in a written statement. "Arizona needs solutions, and I'm committed to working with anyone to get the job done."

For her part, Lake has been taking shots at Gallego, too. Lake criticized his support of the 2015 bill, saying "they're more concerned about offending illegal immigrant killers than protecting young American women."

Sporting a short-sleeve navy shirt that spelled out Laken Riley's name in bold white block letters, Lake criticized Biden for his border policies in her response to the President's State of Union address in a video on X, formally known as Twitter. Lake, along with former President Donald Trump and other Republicans, have been using Riley's death as a symbol of Biden's border policies.

Lake called Ibarra a "crazed man from Venezuela who never should have been in our country to begin with" and connected the Georgia student's death to her U.S. Senate opponent. She said in a video on X that Biden and Gallego "allowed these tragedies to transpire."

In a barrage of social media posts during and following Biden's speech, Lake also criticized the Biden for his mispronouncing Riley's name on X. During the address, Biden appeared to have mispronounced her name, saying "Lincoln Riley" instead of "Laken Riley."

Lake wrote it was "heartbreaking that Joe Biden cares so little about the devastation he's caused her family that he couldn't be bothered to learn Laken's name."

Gallego took to X to share his support of the "Laken Riley Act." The legislation would require the detention of any migrant who committed burglary or theft. The bill, which passed the House hours before Biden's address on Thursday, had all Republicans and 37 Democrats, including Gallego, voting in favor of the legislation.

"Laken Riley's death was a tragedy. Our immigration system should never let a potentially dangerous criminal onto our streets," Gallego said on X. "Today, I voted for the Laken Riley Act to ensure something like this never happens again."

The Senate Leadership Fund, a Super PAC aligned with outgoing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Gallego's record in Congress contributed to the border problem.

In 2017, Gallego voted against legislation dubbed the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act, which included "Grant's law," named after Grant Ronnebeck, a Mesa convenience store clerk who police said was murdered in 2015 by an undocumented immigrant who had already been convicted of felony burglary. That bill would have required jail for undocumented immigrants charged with deportable crimes.

"Instead of working to secure the border, Ruben Gallego has spent almost a decade in Congress voting for legislation that incentivizes illegal immigration and strengthens sanctuary cities," Senate Leadership Fund spokesperson Torunn Sinclair said. "Arizona is battling this border crisis because Ruben Gallego supported the policies that caused it."

Then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., ripped the 2017 legislation as "thinly veiled attacks on immigrants," The Arizona Republic reported at the time.

Reach reporter Morgan Fischer at morgan.fischer@gannett.com or on X, formally known as Twitter, @morgfisch.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kari Lake criticizes Joe Biden and Ruben Gallego over border policies