Republicans to Honor Angel Families at Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address

Republican lawmakers will use President Joe Biden’s fourth State of the Union (SOTU) address to bring awareness to the plight of Angel Families, those who have been victimized or lost loved ones to crimes committed by illegal aliens.

In the wake of 22-year-old Laken Riley’s murder in Athens, Georgia, Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) asked Riley’s parents to attend the SOTU with him. They declined the invite as they are grieving the loss of their daughter.

Collins, instead, will leave a seat empty to “honor Americans he could have invited had their lives not been cut short by foreign criminals who had no business being in this country,” his office wrote in a press release.

“As Joe Biden comes to Capitol Hill to defend his atrocious record, the seat for my guest will remain vacant in honor of Laken Riley and all Americans who have lost their lives to an illegal alien criminal,” Collins said:

As the president paints a rosy picture of the crime-ridden country he has created, he will see an empty seat in the gallery that memorializes those who are no longer with us because of his open border. [Emphasis added]

Prosecutors say Riley was kidnapped and murdered on Feb. 22 while on a morning jog around the University of Georgia campus. Riley’s body was found on the campus, brutally disfigured, and 26-year-old illegal alien Jose Antonio Ibarra from Venezuela was arrested and charged.

Ibarra crossed the United States-Mexico border in September 2022 and was released into the U.S. interior thanks to Biden’s parole pipeline. Ibarra was arrested in the sanctuary city of New York City, as well as in Athens in 2023, before Riley’s murder, but was never turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) has called on Biden to name Riley in his SOTU address on Thursday. The White House has refused to say whether the president will do so. Already, Biden has dodged questions on Riley’s murder.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is cohosting New York Police Department (NYPD) officers Zunxu Tian and Ben Kurian with Reps. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) and Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) — the two officers who were violently attacked by a group of illegal aliens in Times Square in January.

“Sanctuary cities have endangered American citizens across the country. Brave law enforcement officers, like NYPD Lieutenant Ben Kurian and Police Officer Zunxu Tian, should never be victims of the senseless crimes these policies encourage,” Johnson told the New York Post.

NYPD / BODY CAMS+ /TMX

“Our NYPD officers are on the front line every single day working to keep our streets safe, and unfortunately now they are being forced to deal with hundreds of violent crimes being committed by those in our country illegally,” Malliotakis said in a statement:

The horrifying video of Lt. Kurian and his fellow officer being attacked by a mob in Times Square was hard to watch, but it shed a light on just how difficult our officers’ jobs have become. I’m honored to have Lt. Kurian accompany me to the State of the Union to not only show support for New York City’s finest, but to also bring attention to the need for the Biden administration to end its dangerous border policies that have allowed millions of unvetted individuals to enter our country illegally. [Emphasis added]

In total, eight illegal aliens from Venezuela have been charged with the mob attack on Tian and Kurian. As Breitbart News reported, two of the eight illegal aliens are members of Venezuela’s violent street gang known as Tren de Aragua.

Biden has repeatedly ignored Angel Families as president. For three consecutive years, for instance, Biden has refused to acknowledge the victims of illegal alien crime on November 1, which was declared the “National Day of Remembrance for Americans Killed by Illegal Aliens” by former President Donald Trump.

Similarly, ICE’s Victim Of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) — set up specifically to help Angel Families track their pending cases against accused illegal aliens who victimized their family members — has been transformed into a hotline for illegal aliens claiming to be victims of crimes so they can secure T and U visas.

Though the federal government refuses to track the data, former Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) has estimated that about 2,000 Americans die every year at the hands of illegal aliens.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.