Anchor Babies Don’t Anchor Crap
Okay, here’s the deal: there is no such thing as anchor babies.
It doesn’t work the way Republicans want you to think it does. You do not get a home free card because you give birth in the United States.
If you’re born in this country to undocumented immigrants, there’s nothing you can do to help your parents or other family members stay here until you’re 21 years old.
All during that intervening time, the undocumented family members are subject to deportation, and many have been.
Furthermore, the success of the petition to get U.S. green cards relies on the ability of that 21-year-old former “anchor baby” to support his or her family members financially without receiving any welfare or other need-based government assistance for them.
And in order to be eligible for legal status, the undocumented relatives have to return to their home country, and then petition the U.S. for re-entry. If it is determined that they had been living in the U.S. illegally for more than a year, a 10-year wait is imposed on their request to return.
So this anchor is more like a fishing line sinker.
I guess I got all bent out of shape over this yesterday when a Donald Trump supporter yelled at Jorge Ramos, “Get out of my country!”
You know what, this is my country, too. And it is Jorge Ramos’ country. He is a United States citizen. But he’s not white.
If you haven’t seen it ….
It also bothers me that the young woman treats Ramos like a child. “Do you want to come back in? You have to be called on,” in her best kindergarten teacher voice.
Is that the way Walter Cronkite would have been treated? Hell, no.
Jorge Ramos loves conflict and he will confront it without flinching. Donald Trump can dish out conflict but he sure can’t take it. He’s not man enough to be challenged.
There, I said it.
To be fair to that young woman, that Minnie Mouse voice is probably how she always speaks. Men like Trump surround themselves with people that fit their view on life – and young, pretty women, with little girl voices and small IQs, fit that view.
1The Ramos incident was upsetting, but Ramos won it handily. Trump and his followers lost–they just don’t get it.
2T-Rump loves the Bull Connor’s megaphone. He’ll have none of those wimpy little dog whistles the Reince Priebus ‘outreach’ program issues. It’s akin to a conga line of crazies, when T-Rump shouts, the other Republicons trip all over themselves to insult the minority target de jour. Jeb? is fast becoming the clumsiest of the pack. When T-Rump makes a mess on the floor, Jeb? stomps and stumbles in it splattering himself.
3Man, I hope we’re not in for a rerun of the 1930s (and 1940s). Xenophobia here, xenophobia in Europe, which is being flooded with refugees from Syria, Libya, and elsewhere. The biggest party polling in Sweden– Sweden!– is a “get rid of them outsiders” party.
You can’t get across to some people that the newcomers aren’t why *they* are a bunch of idiots and losers. But it’s real easy to point at folks who look or sound different and say, “It’s all THEIR fault!” And we know how that worked out last time.
4A non-problem, so it’s hard to come up with a word for it. Unless we skip ahead to LBJ’s birthday a couple of posts after this and know that Lady Bird would be thrilled for him to call it “manure”!
5I would like to know where all the “birthers” are hiding. Why haven’t they attacked Ted Cruz for being born in Canada, not the U.S.? Oh, right. He’s white. Forgot. Nevermind.
6The Donald’s press conferences and rallies are turning downright biblical, like the walls of Jericho:
When the Trump sounded, his army shouted, and at the sound of the Trump, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city.
… and kicked out the reporters…
71) Who would have ever thought that Trump and the Bible would ever be mentioned together?
82) Why does no one challenge the concept of the extremely offensive term “anchor baby”? The baby is a citizen, the parents are not.
JJ — I think you nailed it. All of this immigration ugliness boils down to skin color. Yet all these people will swear up and down they are not racist. My guess is that if they could reinstitute the poor house and debtor’s prison to get the downtrodden out of their sight, they’d do that too.
9AliceBeth, we could do what the African-American folks did with the ‘n’ word and co-opt anchor baby to describe all Americans born in the USA.
C’mon T-Rump, I’m an anchor baby. Come and get me. While you are at it bring your tax records for the last ten years. We can compare notes to see who is the more ‘American,’ you serial bankrupt moocher.
Yes, as I see it, unless one is a member of a First Nation, we are all anchor babies from the first ships that anchored off the shoreline. Anchors aweigh!
10Has anyone identified the goon who dissed Ramos out in the hall? Thats a great picture of Mr. Goon. Somebody must know him.
11Is it irony or hypocrisy that when Trump challenges authority, he’s praised for it by his followers. When a reporter challenges Trump, he gets booted from the room.
12Merry, I’d choose both irony and hypocrisy. It is oronic that Trump is such a hypocritical weenie.
13Oops. it is ironic that trump is such a hypocritical weenie.
14JJ, just did my weekly article for our newsletter on the 14th amendment. You are right on!
15maryelle, as King of the Typo, I have to give your minor one due props. It was Freudian, as if maybe your fingers were making a tough choice between moronic and ironic. We’ll be seeing a lot more of both words given the Klown Kar sent out into 2016 by Reince Priebus. Hypocrisy will be with us until the last Republicon draws its final breath.
Michael Steele seems to be enjoying life lately; Reince not so much. Each day his job is more like herding cats or the most unruly pre-schoolers imaginable as in Bebe’s Kids x17 with an overdose of white privilege fueled by red cool-aid and junk food.
It’s not right to kick a man when he is down, but …. I can contemplate sending Reince a daily e-mail: how’s that “outreach” working for you?
16TTPTrash – Actually, Cruzi is half Cuban, remember? But for some reason – probably because they skew so heavily Republican, Cubans get a pass.
17Isn’t strange they never say that about Cubans in Miami…?
18Interesting that when US citizens are being wrong about this country they always call it “MY” country, and not “our” country or “this” country. They claim ownership of the whole thing without knowing what the whole thing is. So “Get out of my country” or “I want my country back” is a marker of “I’m a selfish git who thinks what I want trumps (pun intended) everyone else’s needs and desires.”
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