Pros And Cons Of The Anchor Baby Debate

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The Anchor Baby Debate The anchor baby debate is gaining momentum as this year’s presidential election debates are gearing up in the political news. The term anchor baby is typically an offensive term that refers to a child that is born in the United States to a noncitizen mother and granted birthright citizenship. Almost every candidate has had to address this controversial topic in some shape, form, or fashion. The thoughts on what should be done about the law and the use of the phrase differ among the candidates. Before we talk about the various issues and my own thoughts on the policy, everyone should know the basics of the Birthright Citizenship Law. The term “anchor baby” is directly related to the Fourteenth Amendment. If a person were …show more content…

Many people seem to think it is an offensive term that should not be used when referring to the child, although it is used more often than not. Jeb Bush and Donald Trump have certainly had personal run ins with the phrase anchor baby. When Bush was asked if he regretted using the term he responded, "No, do you have a better term? OK, you give me a better term and I 'll use it. I 'm serious.”. In my opinion, the term is just one of those things that caught on over the years like most things do and was not meant to purposely offend anyone. Therefore, it is now being used when discussing birthright citizenship because it is understood among most. Trump was also questioned about his use of the phrase. He responded, “You mean it’s not politically correct, and yet everyone uses it? You know what? Give me a better term.” On the flip side, when another Republican candidate, Marco Rubio, was asked about Bush and Trump’s use of the phrase he responded, “… those are human beings.” Even though he does not use the phrase anchor baby and is not ready to repeal the amendment completely, he too is adamant that there is a problem with the law concerning this issue. Democrat, Hillary Clinton, certainly is not missing out on the controversy that is taking place with this issue at hand. She tweeted out in response to Jeb Bush asking for a better term with, “How about "babies," "children," or ‘American

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