Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) will urge Republicans to embrace immigration reform in his Tea Party response to President Obama's State of the Union speech Tuesday night.
"We are the party that embraces hard work and ingenuity, therefore we must be the party that embraces the immigrant who wants to come to America for a better future," Paul will say, according to excerpts. "We must be the party who sees immigrants as assets, not liabilities. We must be the party that says, 'If you want to work, if you want to become an American, we welcome you.'"
Paul's comments come as legislators continue negotiations over passing immigration reform. While legislators have expressed strong interest in passing a big immigration reform bill in 2013, Democrats and Republicans are yet to agree on whether to include a pathway to citizenship for immigrants living in the country illegally.
Watch the live stream of Paul's speech
here.
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