Jeb: I don’t regret using term ‘anchor babies’

by Bradford Richardson - 08/20/15 2:18 PM ET

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on Thursday defended his use of the term “anchor baby” to refer to children of undocumented immigrants, asking reporters to “give me another word” to describe them.

The Republican presidential candidate was questioned about the term after a town hall meeting Thursday in Keane, N.H., a day after he drew attention for using it on a radio show.

{mosads}“Do you regret using the term ‘anchor babies’ yesterday on the radio?” one reporter asked.

“No, I didn’t — I don’t, I don’t regret it. No, do you have a better term?” Bush retorted.

“I’m asking you…” the reporter began to respond.

“You give me a better term and I’ll use it, I’m serious,” Bush said.

“Is that not bombastic language, ‘anchor baby?’ Is that not bombastic?” another reporter questioned.

“No, it isn’t. Give me another word,” Bush replied.

“Here’s the deal, what I said was it’s commonly referred to that, that’s what I said, I didn’t use it as my own language,” he added.

“What we ought to do is protect the poor kid. You want to get to the policy for a second? I think that people born in this country ought to be American citizens.”

Hillary Clinton’s campaign tweeted “They’re called babies” in response to Bush’s use of the term Wednesday.

Her campaign also replied Thursday to Bush’s call to “give me another word,” tweeting: “How about ‘babies,’ ‘children,’ or ‘American citizens.’ “

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