Asian Birth Tourism, Numbers In Perspective

By Karthick Ramakrishnan. Cross-posted from AAPI Data.


Photo Credit: New York Times
In a recent press conference, Jeb Bush clumsily (and erroneously) said that the phenomenon of so-called "anchor babies" was "frankly, more related to Asian people."

As others have noted, the phenomenon of birth tourism is distinct from most conventional understandings of the offensive term "anchor baby," which tends to imply that people use birthright citizenship from their children to avoid deportation or eventually gain U.S. citizenship for themselves.

There has been a fair amount of sensationalist reporting on birth tourism by Chinese immigrants, with little understanding of the number of estimated "birth tourists," and how they compare to the overall number of Chinese immigrants or visitors to the United States. Below, we provide some numbers in perspective.

Jeb Bush on Anchor Babies: "Frankly it's more Asian people."

And this is how a presidential candidate throws Asians under the bus. Wow, that was easy.



It has begun. You may have heard the derogatory term "anchor babies" -- yes, shit is derogatory -- being used in discussions about immigration, particularly from the likes of Republican presidential candidates like Donald Trump, et al. who are calling for stricter crack downs on undocumented immigrants who purportedly taking advantage of America's policy of birthright citizenship under the 14th amendment.

Jeb Bush: 'Chill Out' on Criticism of 'Anchor Baby' Term

Criticized for using the term "anchor babies" during a conservative radio interview last week, Florida governor Jeb Bush has doubled down, telling reporters that he does not believe the term is offensive. "Nothing about what I've said should be viewed as derogatory towards immigrants at all," he said Monday in McAllen, Texas. "I think we need to take a step back and chill out a little bit." This is all apparently political correctness run amok.

He clarified further, saying that he used the term "anchor babies" specifically to refer to fraud in a "specific targeted kind of case" involving mothers who travel to the U.S. only to win citizenship for their unborn children.

"Frankly, it's more Asian people."

Got that, folks? In case you were concerned that Jeb Bush was referring to Latinos when talking about "anchor babies" taking advantage of birthright citizenship, don't worry -- he was just talking about Asians.