Rand Paul: I'm 'a Moderate on Immigration'

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) told an Iowa radio station this week that he was a “moderate” on illegal immigration while discussing an incident in which two DREAMers confronted Rep. Steve King (R-IA) and himself at an Iowa fundraiser.

In a Wednesday radio interview on WHO in Iowa, Paul said that he had “sympathy” for the “DREAM Act kids” and conceded that, “I’m actually a moderate on immigration.”

Paul, who was seen walking away after the DREAMers accosted King, said he “had time to stop and grab my beer” so he “wasn’t in that much of a hurry” to get to his next interview. He said that a minute before the “kamikaze” DREAMers approached King, he told journalists that he needed to take a “couple more bites” of his burger before doing more interviews.

“I’m not interested in being filmed and being berated by people who broke the law,” Paul said. 

Paul, a potential 2016 GOP presidential contender, has said he favors giving work permits to all of the country’s illegal immigrants and noted that he still supports a comprehensive immigration reform bill. He also criticized Texas Governor Rick Perry, a potential 2016 rival, for embracing in-state tuition for illegal immigrants and luring illegal immigrant juveniles like President Barack Obama did with his temporary amnesty program for DREAMers. 

“President Obama won’t send them home, and Gov. Perry has done the same thing by giving them in-state tuition,” Paul told the Wall Street Journal this week. “That’s a beacon without any kind of border security.”