Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech descended into a shouting match after Republicans confronted him over the death of Laken Riley, a nursing student who was killed by an alleged illegal immigrant.

The US President was heckled during his address by Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican congresswoman who wore a T-shirt and badge with the mantra: “Laken Riley. Say her name”.

A second badge pinned to her red blazer displayed the face of the 22-year-old, whose death last month became a political lightning rod when an illegal migrant from Venezuela was charged with her murder.

Other representatives wore badges with “Laken Riley” printed in block capitals, and one held up a sheet of paper with her name printed on it. Prominent Republicans, including Donald Trump, claim Mr Biden’s struggles to secure the US-Mexico border mean he is responsible for her death.

As the President exhorted Congress to pass a bill to tighten border security, Ms Taylor Greene shouted: “It’s about Laken Riley.” Her intervention prompted cries of “shut up” from Democrats as the joint session descended into uproar.

Departing from his prepared remarks, Mr Biden argued that her death showed the need to approve the bill, which provides more funding for border control officers and allows him to unilaterally close the border.

“Laken Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal. That’s right,” he said, holding up one of the badges Ms Taylor-Greene had handed out earlier in the day. “But how many of the thousands of people are being killed by illegals?”

“To her parents, I say my heart goes out to you having lost children myself. I understand,” he said, before arguing that the bill could “change the dynamic at the border”.

“People pay the smugglers $8,000 to get across the border because they know if they get by, if they get by and let into the country, it’s six to eight years before they have a hearing,” he said.

“But if it’s only six months, six weeks, the idea is it’s highly unlikely that people will pay all that money and come all that way knowing they’ll be kicked out quickly.”

Mr Biden concluded: “I would respectfully suggest my Republican friends owe it to the American people, get this bill done. We need to act now.”

Ms Taylor-Greene confronted Mr Biden as he greeted well-wishers before his speech. “Laken Riley. Say her name, Mr President,” she demanded.

Riley, a student at Augusta University in Georgia, was killed on her morning run on Feb 22. Her disfigured body had been dragged into a secluded area, and medical examiners said she died from blunt force trauma.

Ms Taylor-Greene, an ardent backer of Donald Trump who completed her outfit with a “Make America Great Again” hat, later claimed Mr Biden had mispronounced Riley’s “beautiful name”.

“Even when he tries to say it, he can’t,” she wrote on social media. “Absolutely unfit to be President.”

Delivering the official Republican response to the State of the Union address, Katie Britt, the Alabama senator, claimed Mr Biden failed to “take responsibility” for Riley’s death.

“She was brutally murdered by one of the millions of illegal border crossers President Biden chose to release into our homeland,” Ms Britt said.

“That could’ve been my daughter. It could’ve been yours.

“Tonight, President Biden finally said her name. But he refused to take responsibility for his own actions.”