Jeb Bush learned the hard way that the term "anchor babies" isn't only offensive to Latinos, but also to the Asian community.
The former Florida governor, while trying to defend and clarify his use of the term during a speech Monday at the border town of McAllen, Texas, said that it's "ludicrous" for Democrats to slam him for it,
reports CNN, because "frankly, it's more related to Asian people."
"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 in that organized efforts taking advantage of a noble concept which is birthright citizenship," Bush told the crowd. "I support the 14th Amendment."
Bush should "immediately retract his statements and apologize to the Asian community for his insensitive behavior," said Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, adding that the GOP presidential candidate's comments "regarding the children of Asian immigrants are derogatory and offensive."
Inhe Choi, executive director of the Korean American Resource and Cultural Center, also
complained to Bloomberg News that Bush is following GOP candidate Donald Trump's statements on immigration, not showing leadership.
"He’s making a sweeping statement that is possibly taking the country in a dangerous direction," Choi said. "These front-runners of the Republican Party seem to want to scapegoat and shame to get any kind of point across."
The term "anchor babies" is used to describe children born in the United States to parents who enter the country illegally, and particularly women who come into the United States late in their pregnancies to ensure their children are born as American citizens.
Bush says he's "immersed in immigrant experience" as his wife is from Mexico.
His campaign spokeswoman, Kristy Campbell, later told reporters that Bush was referring to the widely reported federal investigations on birth tourism.
The New York Times reported in March on three Southern California businesses that were raided by federal agents for allegedly arranging for pregnant Chinese women to be brought into the United States to give birth and then obtain passports and birth certificates for their babies.
According to
Jon Feere of the Center for Immigration Studies, the number of babies gaining birthright citizenship has been steadily rising and is now estimated to top 300,000 and even reach as high as 400,000 a year. The Pew Hispanic Center puts the estimate at 340,000 each year.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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