For those unfamiliar with the term "Anchor Baby" it is a negative term for a baby born in the US to non-US citizen parents. The term comes because based on US immigration policy, which recognizes Juris Solis, if you are born on US soil you are a US citizen. Therefore, when that baby turns 18, as an adult US citizen, they can apply for a green card for their non-US-Citizen parents (if they meet certain financial requirements to sponsor their parents, pay application fees, there is no criminal background, their parents are not barred for having entered the country and been caught too many times, they are still speaking to their parents, the moon is full and the stars align, etc, etc). The baby is anchoring the immigrant parents to the US.
A little discussed concept is the fact that Jesus was in fact an anchor baby. Bethlehem was not Mary and Joseph's home. Due to the census, and Joseph's lineage, that was where they had to go to report but that was not their home - as one commentary states this should be clear since they had no family to stay with when Mary went into labor and had to stay in the manger. The whole family again became immigrants when they had to flee to Egypt - to avoid king Herod killing Jesus. Jesus then returned with his family to Nazareth where he is not a legal resident, having been born in Bethlehem. Here he works, as a carpenter, as an illegal immigrant. That is a different spin on Christmas from what many of us probably hear in church services, no?
For more christian immigration perspectives, check out the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
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