anchor baby n. a child born of an immigrant in the United States, said to be a device by which a family can find legal foothold in the US, since those children are automatically allowed to choose American citizenship. Also anchor child, a very young immigrant who will later sponsor citizenship for family members who are still abroad. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Jameela in Charlotte, North Carolina, says her family refers to their television’s remote control as the clicker, but her friends insist on calling it the remote. These devices go by other names as well, including doofer, flicker, zapper, and...
Amid court-ordered busing in the 1970s, a middle-school teacher tried to distract her nervous students on the first day of class with this strange assignment: find a monarch caterpillar. The result? A memorable lesson in the miracle of metamorphosis...
No, you’re wrong, Campbell. As one can plainly see in the citations above, such as in the third one, it is used for *any* immigrant. Those who use this term tend to be opposed to *all* immigration and immigrants, not illegal immigration, especially those who use their immigration stance as a mask for racism and xenophobia.
Well in reality:
Anchor baby:
n. a child born of an illegal alien in the United States, said to be a device by which a foreign family can find legal foothold in the US, since those children are automatically allowed to choose(no, it is automatic; they do not choose) American citizenship. This baby citizen, will later have the ability to sponsor citizenship for family members who are still living abroad.
THERE IS A DIFFERENTS HER THE SLAVES WERE BROUGH HERE BY THE WHITE MAN.THE ILLEAGELS CAME ON THERE OWN.THE WHITE MAN WAS WRONG IN DOING WHAT THEY DID TO THE BLACK RACE.BY THE WAY IM WHITE.BUT THE MEXICIANS CAME HERE SAYING THIS IS THERE LAND AND WE STOLED IT FROM THEM.WRONG AGAIN.IT BELONG TO THE INDIANS.AND THE WHITE MAN DROVE THEM OUT WHAT THEY DIDN’T KILL.SO BY ALL RIGHTS THE ILLEAGELS ARE TRESSPASSERS AND LAW BREAKERS.
The statement that anchor babies are “automaticaly allowed to choose US citizenship” is incorrect. If they’re born in the US, then there is no choice involved – they automatically ARE US citizens.
Additionally, a child born to an immigrant who already holds permanent resident status before the child is born, should not be considered an anchor baby because the parent gains no benefit from the child being a US citizen.
I agree to Kenny’s statements.