Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump called rival Texas Sen. Ted Cruz “an anchor baby in Canada,” introducing a new turn of phrase in his attacks over the senator’s eligibility to run for president.
During a campaign rally in New Hampshire Friday morning, Mr. Trump segued from lines criticizing illegal immigration to the U.S. into a new assault on Mr. Cruz’s citizenship.
“Ted Cruz may not be a U.S. citizen. He’s an anchor baby,” Mr. Trump said to some laughter at the Nashua, N.H., event.
“Anchor babies” is a pejorative term, typically used to refer to illegal immigrants whose children automatically gain U.S. citizenship when they are born on American soil. In this case, Mr. Trump appeared to be extending the term to children born in Canada who gain automatic citizenship there. (Mr. Cruz, who became an American citizen at birth because his mother was American, has renounced his Canadian citizenship.)
Cruz campaign spokeswoman Catherine Frazier said that the only anchor at hand was being dragged by the “S.S. New York Values,” a reference to the senator’s attacks on Mr. Trump for being too liberal to run as a Republican.
