Biden says her name — Laken Riley — at urging of GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene

WASHINGTON (AP) — It was what the Republicans demanded, but never expected.

President Joe Biden said her name.

“Laken Riley.”

Even before Biden started speaking, the topic of border security was certain to rise as one of the most tense moments in the State of the Union address.

Biden was confronted as he walked into the House chamber by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the hardline Republican, decked out in a red Trump MAGA hat and a t-shirt emblazoned with the message, which was also on a button she pressed into his hand.

“Say her name,” it said, the phrase evoking the language used by activists after the death of George Floyd and others at the hands of police.

The death of Laken Riley, a nursing student from Georgia, has become a rallying cry for Republicans, a tragedy that they say encompasses the Biden administration’s handling of the U.S-Mexico border amid a record surge of immigrants entering the country. An immigrant from Venezuela who entered the U.S. illegally has been arrested and charged with murder.

Midway through the speech, Biden started talking about border security and called on Congress to pass legislation to secure the border and modernize the country’s outdated immigration laws, praising the bipartisan effort that collapsed when his likely Republican presidential rival, Donald Trump, opposed it.

Greene interjected, “Say her name!”

The congresswoman from Georgia yelled, pointing a finger, and jabbing it toward Biden.

And then Biden did just that.

He held up the white button, and said: “Laken Riley.”

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