U.S. Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., chairperson of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), said the Republican presidential candidates' "anchor babies" remarks are a personal attack towards her and the immigrant community.

During a press call by the Democratic National Committee on early Thursday afternoon, Sanchez said words do not express how dismayed it is to hear Republican presidential candidates use a derogatory term instead of attempting to unite the country.

"I find it highly ironic that Republicans think the Second Amendment is ironclad but for some reason that 14th Amendment is open to interpretation," said Sanchez, who reiterated the amendment, which reads that all persons born in the United States and its jurisdictions are U.S. citizens.

Sanchez, who represents California's 38th Congressional District, said the 14th Amendment's language is "pretty clear," and the Founding Fathers were aware of its specific language when working on the Constitution.

Acknowledging that work has been done to progress comprehensive immigration reform in the House, for more than a decade, Sanchez said the Republican field would instead "attack the citizenship of American children that are born to immigrant parents."

She said the attacks are not new and are "recycled" decades-old rhetoric, referencing then-Rep. John Kasich, currently running for the Republican presidential nomination, and his 1993 bill (H.R. 1191) to limit citizenship to U.S.-born children and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul's support of Louisiana Sen. David Vitter's "Birthright Citizenship Act" in 2011, which would amend the "Immigration and Nationality Act" and grant U.S. citizenship to only children born to a U.S. citizen or national, a lawful permanent resident or "an alien" performing active service in the U.S. Armed Forces.

"For me, this is personal. I view these attacks and it's personal to me," said Sanchez, the daughter of immigrants. "Immigrants come to this country to contribute. They come for opportunity, they give back so much to this country, they make it vibrant, they make it economically a powerhouse in the world and here we have presidential candidates -- these are people who want the top spot in the land...and using a term that is so vile."

Sanchez said former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush "should have known better" and not to use the term. As Latin Post reported, Bush used the term during a radio interview on the conservative Bill Bennett's "Morning in America" program.

Bush said, "If there's abuse, if people are bringing -- pregnant women are coming in to have babies simply because they can do it, then there ought to be greater enforcement," Bush said on Wednesday. "That's [the] legitimate side of this. Better enforcement so that you don't have these, you know, 'anchor babies,' as they're described, coming into the country."

Fellow Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump defended his use of the term and criticized "political correctness" for anyone who thinks "anchor babies" is an offensive term.

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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Politics Editor Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.

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