[caption id=”attachment_145971″ align=”aligncenter” width=”1024″] Republican presidential candidate, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks at the Defending the American Dream summit hosted by Americans for Prosperity at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio, Friday, Aug. 21, 2015. (AP Photo/Paul Vernon)
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Clarifying his remarks on “anchor babies,” Jeb Bush said the term is “more related to Asian people” than Latinos crossing the border to the south.
On Monday, Bush visited the U.S.-Mexican border and expanded on his previous comments about “anchor babies.”
According to The Hill, Bush was concerned about Asian mothers gaming the system.
“What I’m talking about is the specific case of fraud being committed where there’s organized efforts — frankly, it’s more related to Asian people — coming into our country, having children in that organized effort, taking advantage of that noble concept, which is birthright citizenship,” Bush said.
A March raid by federal agents in California could be what Bush meant; agents suspect a ring of Californian businessmen helped “mostly Chinese women” to give birth in America for their children to gain citizenship, so-called “birth tourism.”
Donald Trump seized on Bush’s comments, saying that “Asians are very offended” and Bush was trying “to be more politically correct to [H]ispanics.”
Bush also said that “Trump’s plans are not grounded in conservative principles,” echoing a criticism made by Rand Paul.
