My anchor babies

Yesterday my wife, my brother and I decided to go to the city (Manhattan -we live in the New Jersey suburbs-) with our two daughters. As we were joyfully strolling down Broadway minding our own business and talking among us (in Spanish, of course, which I'm sure you'll understand is perfectly normal behavior for native speakers of any language when they speak among each other regardless of what country they happen to be in -Americans living in Mexico or France speak English among themselves as they are perfectly entitled to do-), when out of the blue a woman turned to us as we walked pass her and sarcastically referred to my daughters (6 months old and 6 years old) as "anchor babies".

Ny wife and I are Mexican citizens (from Morelia). We came to the New York metro region under a work visa, we've lived here for 10 years and are now US permanent residents. I work in investment banking for a bulge bracket US firm. Needless to say (and yet, here I am feeling compelled to state it) we are law abiding citizens that have paid literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes in the past ten years. Needless to say as well, my current and future immigration status have nothing to do with the fact that my daughter's were born here and (will) have dual citizenship.

I am normally pretty hard skinned, but I have to confess that this made me quite angry. I blurted out a profanity (which of course got me in trouble with my wife for using such language in front of the kids) and told my wife and brother what the woman had just said -apparently I was the only one who actually heard her and in fact, I had to explain what the term "anchor baby" meant as neither my brother nor my wife had heard it-. They were much cooler about it than I was. My 25 year old brother laughed it off: "does she realize where she is?" (New York City, where 40% of the population is foreign born), "I guess she must go around saying this to every other person she meets on the street... I know she'd have to call this to the kids of most of my colleagues on the trading floor".

Am I being overly sensitive about this? I don't think so. Anchor baby is obviously a loaded term. In my culture it's considered impolite to even refer to someone as "he" or "she" instead of by his/her name if that person is present (mothers will correct this with a stern: "el/ella tiene su nombre" ("he/she has a name"). So, I find it beyond rude to refer to a stranger's kid by a label, even if it were a less emotionally loaded one (think about it: how would you feel if a stranger refer to your kids as "child tax credit babies" or something like that?) Calling someone's kids "anchor babies" seems almost unfathomable. (Think of the inherent chauvinism/xenophobia in assuming that because we are speaking a foreign language and look non-American we: a) are here illegally, b) had our babies in the US in order to one day get American citizenship ourselves and live-off the generosity of American tax payers).

I'm not even dealing with politics here, but with mere politeness. What drives an apparently otherwise normal person (I wish I could report that our harraser was an obviously fringe character or displayed obvious signs of ignorance and unsophistication, in fact, she seemed like an average New Yorker) to harrass a person she doesn't know like this? I agree that American style political correctness can at times be almost grotesquely funny, but I much prefer it to insensitive name calling and labelling. Labelling is oftentimes the first step in dehumanizing the "other", which is a dangerous slippery slope (Milgram, the psychologist, in a lesser known variation of his famous -or infamous- experiment, showed that people were much more likely to voluntarily harm a stranger that had done no harm to them if they "accidentally" overheard the researcher using a derisive label in referring to the stranger). I obviously don't want to take this argument too far. I think I am already giving way too much importance to the hateful words of a random stranger as it stands. However, I do think both sides of the immigration debate need to tone down the rethoric. There are clearly valid arguments on both sides, but labelling and name calling are utterly unhelpful and will only lead to further polarization.

As an aside, I think the concept of anchor babies is largely a myth. First of all, having an American baby will not necessarily save an illegal alien from deportation, as it has been clearly established by well publicized cases. Second, an anchor baby cannot really apply for a green card for his/her parents until after he/she is 18. After that, there's usually a long wait of several years before parents can get permanent residence. Finally, having an "anchor baby" does not give the parent rights to receive social security payments, etc. I really don't think that illegal aliens that are having babies in the US are doing so in order to get a green card 30 years down the road. There are other myths that are used by both sides in this debate (another one that comes to mind is that illegal immigrants are draining social security funds, when in fact, it's well documented that the social security administration records a significant amount of social security contributions that were made under a false SSN and therefore cannot be claimed by the people who made such contributions, so illegal immigrants are in fact subsidizing social security). Well, I said I did not want to get into politics. Besides, it's unfair because I'm only giving one side of the argument here. As I've said, there are valid arguments to both sides. I'm all for fair and objective debate of these arguments, but ad hominem attacks and labelling are clearly not constructive.

I realize that in the big scheme of things, these woman's comment is not a big deal. As I said, I'm usually pretty hard skinned, but perhaps the fact that this involved my kids (however tangentially) made me react strongly to this person's insensitivity and prejudice. I too have wondered whether there were other factors that drove this person to act the way she did. I don't tend to divide the world into demons and angels, and know full well that the capacity for evil resides within each of us (I recently read the Lucifer Effect, which deals with this subject). If anything, I blame the rethorical excesses involved in the current immigration debate. I happen to notice the excesses incurred by one of the sides in the debate, simply because I'm much more attuned to the arguments of the other side, but I'm sure both sides engage in this to some degree.

Finally, let me clarify that my rant is in no way intended as an indictment of an entire country. In all fairness I have to say that this is the first time in my 10 years in this country that I've directly experienced something close to xenophobia. I consider myself a New Yorker (after 10 years here you'd expect that) and have many good friends in this city and this country. I also realize that prejudice is, alas, prevalent among different cultures. I've traveled extensively for work and pleasure and have lived and worked in three countries and two continents. I have very good friends in each of those countries. I have encountered many examples of garden-variety rudeness, but fortunately have not personally often seen the ugly face of overt prejudice.

The children born in the United States to illegal-alien mothers are often referred to as “anchor babies.” Under current practice, these children are U.S. citizens at birth, simply because they were born on U.S. soil. They are called anchor babies because, as U.S. citizens, they become eligible to sponsor for legal immigration most of their relatives, including their illegal-alien mothers, when they turn 21 years of age, thus becoming the U.S. “anchor” for an extended immigrant family.

While there is no formal policy that forbids DHS from deporting the illegal-alien parents of children born in the U.S., they rarely are actually deported. In some cases, immigration judges make exceptions for the parents on the basis of their U.S.-born children and grant the parents legal status. In many cases, though, immigration officials choose not to initiate removal proceedings against illegal aliens with U.S.-born children, so they simply remain here illegally.

Thus, the U.S.-born children of illegal aliens not only represent additional U.S. population growth, but act as ‘anchors’ to eventually pull a large number of extended family members into the country legally. In fact, an entire industry has built up around the U.S. system of birthright citizenship. Thousands of pregnant women who are about to deliver come to the United States each year from countries as far away as South Korea and as near as Mexico so that they can give birth on U.S. soil. Some come legally as temporary visitors; others enter illegally. Once the child is born, they get a U.S. birth certificate and passport for the child, and their future link to this country is established and irreversible.

Thanks for your message.
1. I agree xenophobia is a natural impulse. I also think that civility trumps most of people’s natural impulses most of the time. For the most part, however, I have not encountered xenophobia or prejudicie in my daily life.
2. I have not (no practical reason for me to look at them). I would expect them to be as stringent as those of the US.
3. As I said, I doubt people are making childbearing decisions with this in mind. Having a US born child will not entitle you to receive a welfare check (except to the extent the child qualifies for this - in my mind this is a totally different situation, but I realize many on this forum may disagree).
4. My kids can have dual citizenship (or they can pick the one they want to keep after they are 18). Why would I want to limit their choices? This in no way means I consider being an American citizen less valuable than being a Mexican citizen (or vice versa). I just think having both nationalities is an asset. I don’t see any conflict here, although I realize you may disagree.

And yes, I do speak English to my kids too. But why not give them the gift of bilingualism if I can do it? (In fact I speak French fluently, too and I intend to speak this language to them too).

As an aside, I think the concept of anchor babies is largely a myth.

In 2002 my daughter in law had her first child at Good Sam Hospital in Phoenix, it was hard to find the little tyke in the nursery amid all the other babies.

Last year, she had her second at the same venue, this time it was easy to pick her out in the nursery, she was the white baby..

You’re entitled to your wariness. I have not hidden the fact that I am pro-Immigration for full disclosure. No tricks here. My story is real, but you’re entitled to distrust it or interpret it as you wish.

If I had not being attuned to this debate in the first place, I probably would not even know what the term “anchor baby” means and I would not have reacted to the woman’s comment.

Last week my teenage daughter and I were grocery shopping at the neighborhood store. About halfway through a group of three young men surrounded her and began taunting her in a foreign tongue. She tried to skirt around them, but they encircled her and blocked her exit and continued to make what was (by their attitude, demeanor, and body language) obviously rude & offensive comments.

I came up behind them and said, “Hey you slimy little F*@#$rs, what would you think about me bashing your skulls in? How about if I shoved this bottle of Ketchup up your a$$es?”” Now I must admit that I was being rude because I didn’t respect them enough to speak to them in their native language, but for some reason that didn’t occur to me at the time.

I suppose in retrospect that they might have been just paying homage to her for, say her breast size. How could I be so inconsiderate?! Perhaps I should have engaged them and inquired, “So do you come here to pick up little girls often?” Again, an opportunity for a bit of social interaction missed.

This cross-cultural communications thing is so complicated! It’s a good thing that my daughter wasn’t being overly sensitive about this.

I guess it’s all a matter of perspective...

Although I have some sympathy for you, I can tell you what my grandparents said to my dad and his brothers...we are in America and you had better speak English. There were no exceptions...period.
My grandma also said the “beatings continue until the attitude changes” but thats another post. (In case your are wondering, Sicilian.)

A legal doesn't stand a chance if an illegal has preference.

And TavoNYC (Sir) the average American citizen does not and will not understand someone who breaks line to be ahead or in front of a "legal". The word "illegal" says how Americans think. If that word "illegal" doesn't make your blood boil, to remember an "illegal" will break the laws of our nation not once or twice, but forever and ever till the word (Amnesty) is enacted. Americans have come to a near-hate of what is playing out in front of our eyes. Americans will be more than a little frustrated if legalization (amnesty) is enacted. And we Americans will fight this legalization of those who broke our laws to enter our nation, because we Americans pride ourselves on the fact we try to be fair and allow justice to prevail because we (our nation America) is a nation of law.

But what do I know, I am not an attorney. But I do know attorneys, judges, and our legal system is the best in the world, but even those individuals realize the "illegal" issue is more than simply a few cross words.

If you are an American TavoNYC use an American's wit and charm. You are free to copy mine.

My ex sis-in-law is American Indian. Very very dark skinned. Illegal aliens walk up to her not knowing her from a hole in the ground and start speaking espanol at her. This pisses her off to no end. She in turn starts speaking flawless Japanese which she studied in Tokyo when she lived there and wanted to at least make an attempt to fit in.

The illegals usually give her a nasty look and storm off.

[No such thing as an anchor baby IMO, because if you did not have your legal papers and status, an INS judge would still likely throw you out.]

You are dead wrong. Arizona has thousands of illegals with ‘anchor babies’ who WILL NOT and CANNOT be returned to their COO (Country of Origin) due to ICE/Bush failure to enforce.

The lady was RUDE to bring it up BUT your children ARE anchor babies in every since of the word. They only have citizenship because they were born here to 2 non-citizens.

Your plans are to have them be dual or hyphen Americans, so this just proves the point further.

You know this full well and are only trying to stir things up with words like xenophobic in your rant. You would have to be living under a rock not to know of the immigration bill that our President and Senate was trying to force upon us that was just defeated, so spare me your “I don’t understand what’s happening” lines. I may not agree with this lady’s rudeness but don’t expect us to think you’re that stupid to NOT know what’s been going on with immigration the past year.

Also New York City is probably one of the rudest bunch of aholes on the planet, so don’t expect us to think this is the first time you have ever been insulted. NYC people excel “in being all they can be” in rudeness. Paris is probably the only place that would give them competition. Your “woe is me” tale is just that. I’m sure you made it up and are trying to stir the pot to see what happens. The funny thing is the new immigration bill would have shafted legal immigrants such as yourself and given the illegals a better status than yourself.

[I remember a 60 minutes or 20/20 episode from back in the 90s about anchor babies along the border.]

Right idea but wrong numbers. San Miguel, Arizona on the Mexican border south of Yuma has a population of a few hundred, perhaps a couple thousand but it has (I have heard) 30,000 PO boxes to cover the illegals who get SS checks and other US benes.

I know Americans who’ve lived in Mexico for 20 years and can only speak a few words of Spanish. I know others who speak almost like natives. Guess what language they talk to their kids in? (regardless of where they are and whether they are in front of Spanish speakers or not)... If you guessed English, you guessed right.

How many of those Americans are illegal aliens and how many are working in Mexico illegally. None of course!!
Because illegal aliens are depressing wages for American workers. The law of supply and demand

Anchor babies , no myth.

Just come to San Diego to any ER.
As soon as the gals are ready to unload, they
are across the border at any number of ERs.

Many many thousands of anchor babies are born here a yr.,
which makes them an American Citiz. They can then collect
from the San Diego tax payer, their needs others have to work for.

We are losing tens of millions of dollars a year in
San Diego supporting these illegals.

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