Queens elected officials called for an apology from Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush on Friday, following his comment last week that “anchor babies,” a term he’d invoked and been chastised for in recent weeks while discussing immigration reform, was “frankly more related to Asian people.”
The term has been utilized by Bush, as well as GOP presidential rival Donald Trump in recent weeks, to refer to children born in the United States to non-American parents, solely as a means of attaining American citizenship.
At Flushing Town Hall on Friday, community leaders in the Asian-American community condemned Trump and Bush’s remarks, calling the term offensive and cautioning that it would only propel anti-immigrant and racist sentiment.
“Jeb Bush’s comment is only the latest in a string of knee-jerk invectives by presidential candidates intent on pandering to radicals hell-bent on eviscerating immigrant communities across the country,” said Councilman Peter Koo. “We are calling on all presidential candidates to immediately end this anti-immigrant one-upmanship.
“Instead of further marginalizing communities, our presidential candidates should be campaigning on ways they can bring our country together,” he added.
Read the full story at the Queens Examiner.
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