Since Donald Trump started to attack undocumented immigrants and their "birthright citizenship," other presidential hopefuls have been jumping aboard his campaign locomotive on this issue. Scott Walker and Jeb Bush have now joined the call to end the idea that if you're born on American soil, you're an American citizen because they found out about a new evil plot perpetrated by Mexicans.
Gov. Jindal joined Bill Hemmer on Fox News this morning and was asked if he would be OK with using the term anchor baby, since it is a derogatory term. Jindal immediately tried to obfuscate the issue by attacking Hillary Clinton and Planned Parenthood, but Hemmer led him back to the question.
What I find offensive is Hillary Clinton — the left. When you look at those Planned Parenthood videos, they refuse to call them 'babies,' they call them 'fetal tissue,' they call them 'specimens,'" Jindal said. "What's really offensive is the left refuses to say 'babies.' Instead they say 'fetal tissue,' 'specimens,' they are a bunch of science deniers."
Hemmer asked Jindal to clarify whether he would use the term "anchor babies," and the Republican presidential hopeful said he would.“Folks today are too easily offended. they’re too politically correct," Jindal said. "The real issue here — yeah I’m happy to use the term — but the reality is the real issue here is we need to secure our border."
One such politician who should be more understanding about birthright citizenship is Governor Piyush "Bobby" Jindal of Louisiana, since his mother was three months pregnant when she came to the US and gave birth to him here.
Raj was the daughter of a bank manager. She first came to America on a scholarship to study for her doctorate in nuclear physics at Louisiana State University. She brought along her husband, a love match named Amar Jindal, himself the son of a shopkeep from the bania caste, the only one of the nine children in his family to attend school past fifth grade. At the time the couple immigrated, Raj was three months pregnant with their first son, Piyush. Though the university health plan denied coverage for the birth (it was ruled a "preexisting condition"), the one-month paid maternity leave was awarded as promised — that was the perk that had tipped the scales for Amar, who'd been hesitant to leave home, having worked his way up through the ranks to the respected position of assistant professor of engineering at Punjab University in Chandigarh, the newly dedicated capital city of their home state.
Being described as a "preexisting condition" when he was born should have kept Bobby honest about the immigration (and health care) debate, but sadly it hasn't. Notice the only reason Jindal's parents stayed in America was to receive the bonus of a one month maternity leave and not because of their love of America's baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet. In other words they used this country to better their lives.
Hemmer conveniently left out asking Jindal if he considered himself an anchor baby, because clearly Hemmer knew this information, but took the easier, softer way out.
Here's more: Critics Invoke Bobby Jindal in Birthright Citizenship Controversy
Critics of that position are now hitting back in part by invoking Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal, who they say would not have been born a citizen under the proposed change -- a claim his office is disputing.On a conference call today, opponents of changing the policy said that while Americans are "justifiably frustrated" with current immigration policy, eliminating birthright citizenship "would punish the innocent children of undocumented immigrants, which flies in the face of American values," according to Michele Waslin, Senior Policy Analyst at the Immigration Policy Center.
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The New York Times reported in 2007 that Jindal "was born on June 10, 1971, in Baton Rouge to Hindu parents who had come to the United States six months before so his mother could pursue a graduate degree in nuclear physics at Louisiana State University."
In June, the SEIU identified Jindal, Former GOP Senator Pete Domenici, and Former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on its list of Republicans who would not be citizens under the proposed policy.
Stock also responded to a reporter's question concerning the claim by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham that the birthright citizenship laws encourage illegal immigrants to come to the United States to have children. (These children are known to some as "anchor babies," though Hispanic groups object to the term.) She said the number of people who are motivated to come to America to create "anchor babies" is small and said they could be dealt with by outlawing the practice.
