Jeb Bush Gives Away the Game on “Anchor Babies”

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Jeb Bush wants us all to chill out about his use of the term “anchor babies”:

What I was talking about was the specific case of fraud being committed. Frankly it’s more related to Asian people coming into our country, having children, and….taking advantage of a noble concept, which is birthright citizenship.

Um….no. Bush initially used the term in a radio interview with Bill Bennett. The conversation was entirely about Donald Trump’s immigration plan, securing our southern border, and dealing with our third-largest trading partner. In other words, it was all about Mexico. Bush was very definitely not talking about Asians.

And if he was, there’s already a perfectly good term to use: birth tourism. It’s well known, well documented, and clearly a growing phenomenon. There’s no need to describe it using a term that many people find offensive, since there’s already one available.

Basically, Bush is tap dancing here. But he’s also doing us a favor. In my tedious discussion of “anchor babies” on Saturday, I concluded that its offensiveness depended on whether it was an actual problem in the first place. Bush is pretty much conceding that it’s not—at least as it refers to illegal immigration from Mexico. But if it’s rare or nonexistent, then you’re imputing offensive behavior to immigrant mothers for something they don’t do. And that does indeed make it offensive.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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