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"You give me a
better term, and I'll use it," Bush said in a testy exchange
with reporters that was captured on video after a town hall
event in New Hampshire.
Bush, the former Florida governor, drew criticism from
Democrats, including presidential candidate Hillary Clinton,
when he first used the "anchor babies" term in a radio interview
on Wednesday.
Immigration has become a contentious issue for Republicans
seeking the presidency in the November 2016 election. Several
contenders, including Donald Trump, the party's front-runner,
have called for amending the Constitution to end the right of
automatic citizenship for all people born in the United States.
Some critics of current immigration policies claim that right
encourages people to come to the United States illegally to have
children. Critics call those children "anchor babies," although
others find the term offensive.
"They're called babies," Clinton tweeted on Wednesday in
response to Bush's radio interview.
Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who is also running for
president, was asked about the term in a CNBC interview on
Thursday. "Those are human beings, and ultimately they are
people," Rubio said.
Bush, whose wife was born in Mexico and later became a U.S.
citizen, has said the debate about immigration policy gets too
bogged down in charged rhetoric.
Asked on Thursday by a reporter if the phrase "anchor babies"
was bombastic, Bush said no, adding that in the original
interview he said the term was commonly used by others.
"I didn't use it as my own language," Bush said.
(Reporting by Emily Stephenson; Editing by John Whitesides and
Jonathan Oatis)
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