Senator Marco Rubio of Florida was the person selected by the Republican Party to deliver the response to President Obama's address to the nation. During his speech, Senator Rubio touched briefly on the immigration issue.
This is a portion of Senator Rubio's speech, in Spanish, where he talks about the immigration issue:
The State of the Union address is always a good reminder that what we have here in the United States is special. For almost all of history, people have been stuck in stagnant societies, where the same people always stay on top and everyone else never had a chance.
But the United States is exceptional because, here, we believe that every human being, at every stage, is precious, and that every human being has a God-given right to go as far as their talents and work allow them to go.
As for most Americans, this ideal is personal. My parents immigrated here in search of opportunity to improve their lives and offer their children the possibility of a better life. They made it in the middle class, my father working as a bartender and my mother as a cashier and waitress. I didn't inherit money from them. But I inherited something even better - the opportunity to make my dreams come true.
This is not just my story. While the details are different for each person, every American also has a special story. This is the incredible story of the United States.
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And tonight, he even criticized us for refusing to raise taxes to avoid cuts to our military - cuts that he himself proposed in the first place.
But his favorite attack is those who don't support his agenda - they are only concerned about the rich.
Mr. President, I still live in the same working class neighborhood where I grew up. My neighbors are not millionaires. They are retirees who rely on Social Security and Medicare. They are workers who have to get up early in the morning and go to work to pay the bills. They are immigrants who came here because they were permanently mired in poverty in countries where the government dominated the economy.
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We can also help our economy grow if we have a legal immigration system that allows us to attract the best and brightest professionals in the world and assimilate them into our way of life. We need a responsible and permanent solution to the problem of those who are here illegally. But first we need to fulfill the promises of the past, secure our borders and enforce our laws.
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