I am not sure why the term anchor babies is so politically incorrect.

[pennylane100]

After I married my American husband, I had three children before I became a citizen. I did not care if they were considered anchor babies. They had American passports, and two of them could also claim citizenship of the countries they were born in. Turkey and the United Kingdom. However in that my son was born in Turkey, he would not have wanted to return there when he was eighteen until he was well over thirty as all males, regardless of their birth certificate were drafted into the military. This was quite a while ago and things may have changed.

I eventually became a citizen when I divorced my husband as I realized that I would probably stay in this country and citizenship would help if I was ever caught with a joint or some other major crime such as speeding etc. Plus the anchor babies would then come in handy.

The irony of my whole time as a military wife is that it bothered the military that I had not taken out papers to become a citizen. My husband came home from work one day as asked if I would to up to the office headquarters to explain why I had not applied for citizenship, we had been married about ten years. I withheld my instinct to tell them to bug off as I did not want to ruin my husband's career so I politely explained that I had not made up my mind as to where I wanted to live when we retired. That was before we came to California and once here, I knew I wanted to stay here.

[Xipe Totec]

1. You children are not anchor babies. They were not born (anchored) on US soil

I'm glad you haven't had any issues staying in whatever country you chose. I mean that sincerely.

But your situation is not the same as that of undocumented aliens who have their children born on US soil.

[pennylane100]

3. one of them was born on US soil.

[pinboy3niner]

6. The term is disparaging to the children and to you

Are you a fraudster for havng a baby in the U.S.? That's what they are saying.

[pennylane100]

8. Who are "they" and who cares.

[pinboy3niner]

9. Some do care when they're unfairly maligned. nt

[Xipe Totec]

11. I do. I find the term offensive. It is derogatory, and it implies second class citizenship. nt

[Brickbat]

2. If you think "anchor baby" applies to your situation, then it makes sense why you wouldn't see it as

an offensive term.

[Gormy Cuss]

4. Did you have your son in Turkey with the hopes of eventually becoming a Turk yourself?

That's the implication behind the term "anchor baby" --- that parents choose birthplaces to benefit their own desire to have citizenship in the country.

[pennylane100]

7. While I spent three years in Turkey,

I loved it there and the people were wonderful. However, at that time it was not a particularly democratic place to raise a family. It was also a very chauvinistic place where women were definitely second class citizens. I knew that this would eventually get me into trouble.

We went there on a two year tour and asked to stay another year because we loved it there. We had a chance to move onto base housing which was about ten miles away with a lot more of life's conveniences but we would have missed the charm and friendship of living in town. Also my four year old spoke fluent Turkish, a skill she would not have acquired living on a base.

So no, I did not want to become a turk myself, I just wanted to enjoy getting to know another part of the world.

[cwydro]

5. Lol, I reckon I'm an anchor baby too!

Mom and Dad were both British citizens when I was born here in the US.

I have dual nationality now, which suits me fine.

[Maeve]

10. They also had an American father, so not 'anchor babies'

For a real understanding why it's seen as racist, note that Trump disparages Jeb! for pointing to Asians and away from Mexicans; the truth is, the Chinese are more likely to come here to give birth SPECIFICALLY to have the child be an American citizen (birth tourism, IIRC). But then, the Chinese doing this tend to have more money and everyone knows they work harder... (just explaining the process that passes for thought among bigots)

It's a term being manipulated to imply that "those (brown) people" who already have "too many kids" are breeding for green cards.