Following the Civil War, the 14th Amendment to the constitution defined anyone born in the US as a citizen.
But now, some right-wing types believe that needs to be changed. Supposedly because the country is being taken advantage of by Machiavellian third-world mothers who specifically come here to have so-called "anchor babies", thereby ensuring them a lifetime supply of that sweet US welfare state lifestyle. :)
Let's break this down a bit, to unpack the layers of idiocy and bigotry.
First, "anchor babies". The term itself it offensive and dehumanizing. Because these aren't actual children, in the right-wingers' eyes. Instead, they're tools, a means to an end. If we're to believe such people, poor women are willing to get impregnated, pay thousands of dollars to a criminal gang to smuggle them into the country at extreme risk of rape, injury or even death, just to get, what? Food stamps?
More generally, it seems to me such people are trying to redefine who is an American. The Constitution clearly states that anyone born here is an American, period. But they don't like that, probably because they see America as a "white" country, and to really be an American, you have to be White. Such a view was pretty much explicitly articulated by Sara Palin, to the extent she's capable of rational expression, during the Presidential campaign. How else can we interpret her calling rural, very white places "real" America?
I know much of this is political theater, drummed up by the continuing persistently terrible job market and the upcoming midterm elections. But it does allow to to finally see behind the curtain of today's Republican party doesn't it?
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