Story highlights Donald Trump skipped Fox News' Thursday debate and talked about it the day after on Friday

Trump said his chief rival Ted Cruz got "pummeled" in Trump's absence

Washington (CNN) Donald Trump on Friday called Texas Sen. Ted Cruz an "anchor baby" during a campaign stop in which he also said his chief Republican rival got "pummeled" at Thursday night's GOP debate.

"Ted Cruz may not be a U.S. citizen, right? But he's an anchor baby. No, he's an anchor baby -- Ted Cruz is an anchor baby in Canada," Trump quipped in a speech to supporters in Nashua, New Hampshire.

Trump's use of the term -- which describes children born on U.S. soil to parents who are in the country illegally and is widely considered to be derogatory -- marks the latest escalation of his attacks against Cruz in which he highlights the Texas senator's Canadian birthplace.

Cruz was born in Canada to a Cuban father and an American mother, who were both living legally in Canada at the time, making him an American citizen by birth.

Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier hit back at Trump in a statement Friday, knocking the New York billionaire's past support for legal abortion and praiseworthy comments about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

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