The terms “anchor baby” and “jackpot baby” are used pejoratively in the US to refer to children of undocumented immigrants, but they do not guarantee citizenship for their parents. The law granting citizenship to children born in America is found in the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution.
The terms “anchor baby” and “jackpot baby” are used pejoratively in the United States to refer to the children of undocumented immigrants. Since all people born in the United States are automatically offered citizenship, except for the children of diplomats, some people worry that anchored children will be used to grant citizenship to their parents and family members. Despite the fact that this is not, in fact, the case, the term is often used in anti-immigration rallies, as part of a larger anti-immigration rhetoric.
In fact, if the parents of an anchor base are illegal immigrants, they are not guaranteed the right to citizenship just because they have children on American soil. They are at risk of deportation, although many judges won’t deport the parents of a child because they don’t want to break up a family. However, when the child anchor reaches adulthood, her parents may be deported if they fail to apply for citizenship.
After the age of 21, a child anchor could apply to sponsor his or her parents in a citizenship application. As a minor, however, the child has no real ability to “anchor” the parents to American soil, despite beliefs to the contrary. While it’s true that many parents make a deliberate effort to have children in the United States in hopes of providing them with a better life, these parents are often aware that the child isn’t always a ticket to citizenship.
Life as an anchor child can also be very difficult. Many of these children are deeply immersed in American culture and have no real connection to their parents’ homeland. They may not have many opportunities to visit their parents’ home, because the parents may be concerned about being stopped at the US border and denied entry. While these children are routinely told to “go home,” they respond that in fact they are already home, by birthright and by law.
The law granting citizenship to children born in America is sometimes called the Citizenship Clause and is found in the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. The amendment was included to ensure that descendants of former slaves would be considered full American citizens, and it seemed sensible to extend that right to other American-born children as well. Despite extensive lobbying by people opposed to the 14th amendment, it is unlikely to be reversed, as amendments are notoriously difficult to remove from the US Constitution. This difficulty was constructed to ensure that changing political climates and moods do not permanently impact American life without a considerable effort on the part of Congress.
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