Anchor baby or jackpot baby are terms used to refer to a child born in the United States to illegal immigrants or other non-citizens. The terms refer to the role of an illegal alien's child, as a US citizen, in facilitating chain migration under the provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. These terms have been characterized in various sources as "pejorative"[1][2] or "derogatory".[3]
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Use of the term
The term is used by those advocating immigration reduction to describe the process by which the child would become the "anchor" of a chain by which its family would receive benefits from social programs, and by which the parents themselves eventually would become lawful permanent residents or citizens of the United States. U.S.-born children cannot, however, sponsor their parents for immigration to the United States until reaching adulthood, and illegal immigrant parents do not gain any additional legal rights based solely on the fact that they have had a child born in the U.S. A related term is "birth tourism", which describes women who travel on temporary visas in order to give their children birthright citizenship.
Controversies
On August 17, 2006, Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn used the term "anchor baby" in reference to Saul Arellano, in a column critical of his mother, who had been given sanctuary at a Chicago church, and advocating her arrest and deportation on immigration related charges.[4] After receiving two complaints, the next day Eric Zorn stated in his defense in his Chicago Tribune blog that the term has appeared in newspaper stories since 1997, "usually softened by quotations as in my column", and stated that he regretted having used the term in his column, and promised not to use it again in the future. [5] On August 23, 2007, the North County Times came under criticism from one of its own former columnists, Raoul Lowery Contreras, in a column titled "'Anchor babies' is hate speech", for allowing the term "anchor baby" to be printed in letters and opinion pieces. [6]
Birthright citizenship
Under current United States federal law [7] and most interpretations of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which was ratified in 1868 to assure citizenship to freed slaves and their descendants, anyone born in the United States is a citizen. The majority of American-born tribal Indians continued to live legally within the borders of the nation as non-U.S. citizens until the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 changed their status; but all other individuals born within the United States, except for children of foreign diplomats, have long been considered citizens regardless of the legal status or citizenship of their parents. Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution states that:
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."
This is sometimes referred to as the Citizenship Clause of the U.S. Constitution, though the meaning of the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” has been a debated issue.
See also
- Chain immigration
- Illegal immigration
- Illegal immigration in the United States
- United States nationality law
- United States Constitution
References
- ^ http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20060402-9999-1n2tide.html
- ^ http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20060402-9999-1n2tide.html
- ^ "BUZZWORDS; GLOSSARY" December 24, 2006 - By GRANT BARRETT - Week in Review anchor baby: a derogatory term for a child born in the United States to an immigrant. Since these children qualify as American citizens, they can later act as a sponsor for other family members.
- ^ Deportation Standoff Not helping Cause August 17, 2006, Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune,
- ^ Sinking 'Anchor Babies' August 18, 2006, Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune, "They use it to spark resentment against immigrants," Rivlin said of his ideological foes. "They use it to make these children sound non-human." To me, that's good enough reason to regret having used it and to decide not to use it in the future.
- ^ 'Anchor babies' is hate speech August 23, 2007, Raoul Lowery Contreras, North County Times, Today's North County Times readers can't find an article that uses the infamous N-word, the Q-word (queer) or words like "homo" for homosexual. What they find is the use of the words "anchor babies" in letters or Opinion pieces. "Anchor babies" are words used by extremists to define babies born of illegal alien parents in the United States...The media should voluntarily ban today's hate speech ("anchor babies") against Mexicans, Mexican-Americans and anyone with a Spanish surname, the fastest growing community in North County, just as it bans the N-word.
- ^ http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode08/usc_sec_08_00001401----000-.html (8 USC § 1401)
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| Issues | Illegal immigration · Trafficking in human beings · Labor shortage · U.S-Mexico Border · Economic impact · Population · Immigration reduction · Legalization · Guest worker program |  |
| Proposed legislation | DREAM Act (2001-2007) · H.R. 4437 (2005) · Jackson Lee (2005) · McCain-Kennedy (2005) · SKIL (2006) · S. 2611 (2006) · STRIVE Act (2007) · S. 1348 (2007) | |
| Action | REAL ID (2005) · Secure Fence Act (2006) · 2006 Protests | |
| Organizations | Immigration and Customs Enforcement · CHIRLA · CCIR · NIF · FIRM · WAAA · NCLR · FAIR · MMP · MCDC · CCIR · SOS · CIS · NUSA · MPI | |
| Past laws | Naturalization Act (1795) · 14th Amendment (1868) · Chinese Exclusion (1882) · Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907 (1907) · Emergency Quota Act (1921) · Immigration Act of 1924 (1924) · Bracero Program (1942-64) · INS Act (1965) · IRCA (1986) · IIRIRA (1996) | |
