Last week, people criticized presidential candidate Jeb Bush for using the term “anchor baby” during a radio interview. Anchor baby refers to a child born in the United States expressly for the purposes of getting American citizenship for its parents, since anybody born in this country is automatically granted citizenship.
On Monday, Bush doubled down on his use of the term at a press conference in McAllen, Texas, a city located on the U.S.-Mexico border, saying that he wasn’t using a “derogatory term,” and that the problem was with Asians, really:
Look, as I’ve said in Spanish, my background, my life, the face that I’m immersed in the immigrant experience, this is ludicrous for the Clinton campaign and others to suggest that somehow I am using a derogatory term. What I was talking about was the specific case of fraud being committed where there’s organized efforts — and frankly, it’s more related to Asian people coming into our country, having children — taking advantage of a noble concept, which is birthright citizenship. I support the 14th amendment. Nothing about what I’ve said should be viewed as derogatory towards immigrants at all. This is all how politics plays. And by the way, I think we need to take a step back and chill out a little bit as it relates to the political correctness that somehow you have to be scolded every time you say something.
Bush didn’t elaborate in this clip about why he thinks the “anchor baby” problem is a uniquely Asian one. It’s not hard to believe, though, that he is trying to score political points because someone has to keep up with Donald Trump and his comments about ending birthright citizenship. It helps that Bush is doing the best in the Republican field among Hispanics according to a Gallup poll released Monday, while Trump’s perception among this group is “deeply negative.”
The Guardian came out with an article today about how while Asians are the fastest-growing racial group in the United States, and while many of them are undocumented, not many of them have openly campaigned for immigration reform, largely in part because of their fear of deportation. Maybe it’s too radical to hope that no racial minority is targeted in this election, but if one of them has to be, Jeb Bush has made a smart pick.
(via Angry Asian Man & CNN)
