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People and Politics by Patrick Roberts

'Anchor babies' new code words to demonize immigrants

Posted on Thursday, April 08, 2010 at 11:27 PM

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'Anchor babies' are about to become a major issue in American politics.

In the past few weeks alone influential columnist George Will (left) and New York State governor candidate Steve Levy have made it clear that the American children of undocumented Americans should not be given citizenship.

Will reinterprets the 14th amendment and says it really can mean an end to birthright citizenship.

Isn't it wonderful how Will like so many of the right wingers demands the original meaning of the constitution be adhered to -- until it suits them to say otherwise.

Will came up with a flimsy reason to overturn the stipulation that all those born on American soil were American citizens.

We know where Will is coming from. Here's his argument from 2006 for locking down the Mexican border.

" America, the only developed nation that shares a long -- 2,000-mile -- border with a Third World nation, could seal that border. East Germany showed how: walls, barbed wire, machine gun-toting border guards in towers, mine fields, large, irritable dogs. And we have modern technologies that East Germany never had: sophisticated sensors, unmanned surveillance drones, etc. "

Sure. Now Will and others are ensuring anchor babies will become a code word for those who believe that many illegal immigrants come here in order to have babies who then cannot be deported and who can eventually claim in their parents.

Forget the fact that claiming in parents would take over 21 years before it could happen --don't let the truth get in the way of a good narrative.

Levy, who won his races for county executive in Suffolk County in Long Island on the back of being a strident anti immigration politician has actually used the term anchor babies and has refused to apologize for it.

Then he barely apologized after a Latino immigrant was knifed to death in his county by a gang of racist youths.

He is running for governor on the Republican line. He switched from Democrat which was no surprise and Republicans think he has a better shot than the faded Rick Lazio to beat Andrew Cuomo the overwhelming front runner.

I'm glad to see that Levy is not getting a free pass on his immigration stance - and from a former anchor baby.

Attorney General candidate Sean Coffey from Westchester , the proud son of Irish immigrants has already put it up to Levy that his stance is racist. Coffey pointed out his own parents were not citizens when he was born.

"I must be an anchor baby," Coffey told Newsday explaining he was born years before his parents became citizens...I am not intimately familiar with the means by which they became citizens. They were certainly assisted by the fact they had seven citizens as children."
"...When you use pejorative terms like 'anchor baby,' you don't get to define the scope of insult."

Here's another likely anchor baby. Ronald Reagan's grandfather . It has never been proven that his Irish great grandparents entered the U.S. legally from Canada in the 1840s.

So it is good to see politicians like Coffey stand up to the anti immigrant hype so many politicians use these days. Hopefully more will follow his lead

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IrishAndProud | Apr 12, 2010, 02:19 PM EDT

Portia, that wasn't even intelligent. The definition of 'alien' doesn't solely mean 'Close Encounters' or E.T. -- although to a person who thinks about as shallowly as Hollywood (such as yourself), it might. From the Merriam-Webster dictionary: "belonging or relating to another person, place, or thing : strange b : relating, belonging, or owing allegiance to another country or government." Jeez, Portia...you actually have to have this explained to you?

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Portia777 | Apr 12, 2010, 09:08 AM EDT

Illegal aliens?? Which planet did these babies come from? Earth. How can they be aliens? born of Earth mothers and fathers.? nourished by mother Earth and Father sky. All the same energy.

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IrishAndProud | Apr 12, 2010, 04:27 AM EDT

Further, Patrick, it is unmitigated BULLSH-T to cry 'racist' at anyone who opposes illegal invasion of their own country. All you do is reinforce your opponents' determination, and swell their ranks. That passe and prissy 'racist' charge doesn't work -- other than to ultimately help DEFEAT your politics.

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IrishAndProud | Apr 12, 2010, 04:23 AM EDT

Wrong again, Patrick. 'Anchor babies' is a PERFECT term for the kids that illegal aliens have, strictly for the purpose of ANCHORING themselves in the country. It's naked abuse of the U.S. constitution. There's no excuse for it; it is, in fact, a form of child abuse to use children to aid and abet lawbreaking.

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honeymoonie | Apr 10, 2010, 08:07 PM EDT

I think Roberts is an ignorant jerk.Steve Levy is opposed to illegal immigration.A liberal jerk like Roberts sees no difference between a legal and an illegal immigrant.And Steve Levy has nothing to apologize for over that murder of the immigrant in Suffolk County.He was so popular at the last election that the Republicans didn't even run a candidate against him.

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MamieVanloren | Apr 10, 2010, 05:47 PM EDT

So this writer now is attacking Ronald Reagan's grandfather over this issue? Hahahahaha How the criminal lovers grasp at straws!! How long has the old man been dead? Pull the plug on Birthright citizenship and pull the birth certificate of the ANCHOR BABIES! The 14th amendment was not make for the babies of criminal illegal foreigners.

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CrazyEyesKillah | Apr 10, 2010, 04:23 PM EDT

ANCHOR BABIES! ANCHOR BABIES! ANCHOR BABIES! TOO BAD IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT. MIKE MCGARRY ASPEN, CO

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AztlanBuster | Apr 10, 2010, 01:43 PM EDT

By the way McNamara31, Caribou Barbie (Palin) is an empty-headed moose-shooting bimbo who supports amnesty for border-hopping invaders. I'll bet you voted for that treasonous Kenyan CFR lackey Soetoro, didn't ya.....

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AztlanBuster | Apr 10, 2010, 01:38 PM EDT

Say McNamara31.... what, are you suggesting Americans should LIKE having their country being illegally overrun by millions of unskilled, uneducated criminal sponges from the third world? You're either daft or have an extreme dislike for Americans.... maybe both.

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Celtica43 | Apr 10, 2010, 11:19 AM EDT

BTW, it's not a "code word," it's the awful truth. Perhaps a kindness in earlier times, now a grand theft from American citizens. i don't know about you, but I will soon need food stamps myself.

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rpmschevy | Apr 10, 2010, 03:58 AM EDT

Excuse me Mr Roberts are you confusing the situation just a tad when you bring up AG Candidate Coffey. The question you do not answer about his parents is the one we care about. Were they here legally and had Sean while here legally??????

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Watereskhill | Apr 09, 2010, 11:26 PM EDT

Who cuts the hedge. Who washes dishes in a Restaurant. Who empties bed-pans in a hospital. Not the native born who believe such is beneath them.

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McNamara31 | Apr 09, 2010, 07:51 PM EDT

AztlanBuster To bad you were born to this century....You would have been a model citizen for the KKK. I'm so sick of you haters and the idiots like Palin who stroke your fire.

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McNabb1966 | Apr 09, 2010, 07:45 PM EDT

Thanks Patrick Roberts! You're incoherent nonsense only harms your position. Not to mention your obvious lack of historical perspective. Tell us more about the "immigration laws" of the 1840s, lol!!

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Maerad718 | Apr 09, 2010, 03:07 PM EDT

Racist!

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