Story highlights Jeb Bush recently made some clumsy remarks about anchor babies and Asians

Jeff Yang: The hard-core nativists that make up the heart of the Republican Party are out of touch

Jeff Yang is a columnist for The Wall Street Journal Online and contributes frequently to radio shows, including Public Radio International's "The Takeaway" and WNYC's "The Brian Lehrer Show." He is the co-author of "I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action" and editor of the graphic novel anthologies "Secret Identities" and "Shattered." The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) There are few uglier phrases in the modern conservative lexicon than "anchor baby," not least because of the literal imagery the term brings to mind of a human infant, wrapped in chains and flung overboard to secure a vessel in place.

But even as a figure of speech, it's a despicable concept. It refers to the notion that undocumented immigrants exploit the quintessentially American policy of birthright citizenship, which confers the status of citizen to anyone born on U.S. territory, by sneaking across the border to give birth to their children.

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush recently stumbled into the center of a firestorm after first railing against the anchor baby phenomenon , and then clarifying himself by saying that he actually wasn't referring to undocumented Latin Americans, but rather to Asians who come to the United States as "birth tourists ." In doing so, he laid bare the hard, unpleasant and racist truth behind the term.

Jeff Yang

The basis for conservatives' rage about anchor babies is the claim that they serve as protection against deportation if their parents' undocumented status is discovered and give them an advantage when seeking permanent residency or citizenship in the future.

Nothing, of course, could be farther from the case.

Read More