GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky told NBC's Chuck Todd Sunday that congressional Democrats are making an immigration reform deal impossible by calling President Donald Trump a racist.

The senator told Todd the uproar attending reports that Trump characterized much of the third world as a "shithole," during a private meeting with lawmakers is destroying whatever good will might exist to achieve immigration reform.

"You can't have an immigration compromise if everyone is out there calling the president a racist," he said. "They're actually destroying the setting… in which anything meaningful can happen on immigration."