Ted Cruz releases birth certificate
August 19th, 2013
08:58 AM ET
10 years ago

Ted Cruz releases birth certificate

(CNN) - As Ted Cruz's profile has skyrocketed in the last year–thanks to his election to the U.S. Senate and an attention-grabbing itinerary to early presidential voting states–the Texas Republican's eligibility for president has come under question.

Born in Canada to a U.S. mother and a Cuban father, most legal experts have said Cruz qualifies as a "natural-born citizen," a requirement for the White House job, as stated in the Constitution.

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And Cruz seems to agree. He told ABC News in July that he's not "going to engage in a legal debate."

"The facts are clear," he continued. "I can tell you where I was born and who my parents were. And then as a legal matter, others can worry about that. I'm not going to engage."

But he will release his birth certificate. In fact, he already has.

The Dallas Morning News ran a story late Sunday analyzing Cruz's documents, which he released to the newspaper on Friday.

Legal experts told the paper that Cruz is not only eligible for president in the United States, he's also technically a Canadian citizen and can even run for Parliament. Unless he renounces his citizenship there, he could also obtain a Canadian passport, according to the Dallas Morning News.

The senator's office, however, said Cruz has never embraced his legal rights in Canada, a country that he left when he was four.

"Senator Cruz became a U.S. citizen at birth, and he never had to go through a naturalization process after birth to become a U.S. citizen," spokeswoman Catherine Frazier told the newspaper. "To our knowledge, he never had Canadian citizenship, so there is nothing to renounce."

The recent debate has invoked the controversial "birther" movement that questioned President Barack Obama's eligibility for president. He put the issue to rest in 2011 when he released his long-form birth certificate proving he was born in Hawaii–though a small amount of conspiracists still maintain doubt about the president's place of birth.

Cruz will attend a GOP fundraiser in New Hampshire on Friday. Earlier this summer, he traveled to Iowa twice and stopped in South Carolina in May. All three states typically hold the first three contests in the presidential primary process.

- CNN's Z. Byron Wolf contributed to this report.


Filed under: 2016 • Ted Cruz • Texas
soundoff (616 Responses)
  1. Al-NY,NY

    I couldn't care less Joe McCarthy Cruz...you will NEVER NEVER EVER be elected president. A can of corn has more of a chance to win than you

    August 19, 2013 09:06 am at 9:06 am |
  2. Name jk. Sfl. GOP conservatives,the garbage of America.

    Nobody from Texas or Canada will ever be elected president, go back where you came from and take your brain dead joke of a father with you,GOP moron!!!!!

    August 19, 2013 09:18 am at 9:18 am |
  3. Randy, San Francisco

    Yes...but is Donald Trump going to challenge the birth certificate as a fake during the presidential primary debates?

    August 19, 2013 09:20 am at 9:20 am |
  4. jinx9to88

    Wonder what the crazies on the right are gonna come up with next in those racist town hall meetings. Hannity and O'Reilly nut case from Faux news will keep their mouth shut just like the hypocrites they are.

    August 19, 2013 09:22 am at 9:22 am |
  5. joesmith

    but what does he bring to the table??

    August 19, 2013 09:22 am at 9:22 am |
  6. Babyboomer

    So let me get this straight, the "Birthers" questioned President Obama's US Citizenship when his mother was born and raised in Kansas (i.e., Middle America), father was born in Kenya and the President himself was born in Hawaii, because WHY??? Birthers, please stop pretending that Bigotry and Racism (particularly against African Americans) doesn't exist in this country anymore. Quit claiming you just disagree with OUR President on policy. JUST OWN THEM (Bigotry and Racism) for the awful things they are and what they represent which is UNEARNED HATRED pure and simple. As for Cruz, NO WAY, NO HOW...

    August 19, 2013 09:23 am at 9:23 am |
  7. Zerubbabel

    The GOP's hypocrisy knows no bounds.

    August 19, 2013 09:23 am at 9:23 am |
  8. Bmerbob

    Yeah, good luck, Cruz.

    August 19, 2013 09:23 am at 9:23 am |
  9. citizen

    So, even if President Obama was born elsewhere (by now we know he was born in Hawaii), his mother was a US citizen and therefore, he was a citizen at birth! And Trumpy spent how much time talking about this?

    August 19, 2013 09:24 am at 9:24 am |
  10. Italmn

    Who cares...................... He will NEVER be POTUS. He is a RATICAL PHYSCOPATH !

    August 19, 2013 09:24 am at 9:24 am |
  11. NEVER to VOTE REPUBLICAN again

    SHOW us the long form

    August 19, 2013 09:25 am at 9:25 am |
  12. John/kc

    Why is Cruz a US citizen? Was his mother or father working for the US government outside the US? Looks to me like he was born outside the US, and just because his mother was American doesn't make him an American citizen.

    August 19, 2013 09:25 am at 9:25 am |
  13. Ace

    He is a Cuban Canadian, not an American.

    August 19, 2013 09:26 am at 9:26 am |
  14. Joi Gibosn

    Well isn't that special!

    August 19, 2013 09:26 am at 9:26 am |
  15. the hippies were right

    I foresee during the GOP primaries, all his contenders will claim this birth certificate is a fake and his father paled around with Fidel Castro and Fox "spews" continually questioning if he is qualified to run for president....and then I woke up.

    August 19, 2013 09:28 am at 9:28 am |
  16. Jimmy Joe Jim Bob

    I want to see that birth certificate. I'll wager that's it's a copy, a certificate of live birth, just like Obama's.

    August 19, 2013 09:28 am at 9:28 am |
  17. PB in Spotsy

    So let me make sure I understand this – Barack Obama was born to a mother who is a U.S. citizen and a non-citizen father , in Hawaii, or Nairobi and he wasn't qualified in the minds of the birther wingnuts. However Ted Cruz was born to a U.S. citizen mother and non-U.S. citizen father in Canada, and he is qualified. What's the difference in the opinion of the birthers, except that Cruz was born in Canada, and in their fevered imaginations, Obama was born in Kenya – i.e., oogy-boogy land. Man, they don't even try to hide their racism anymore.

    August 19, 2013 09:28 am at 9:28 am |
  18. Hastur Ag

    If we're going to have a Canadian president I hope it is Jim Carrey....

    August 19, 2013 09:28 am at 9:28 am |
  19. Johnny 5

    Ted doesn't qualify and neither does Obama. I wonder if Mr. Cruz plans to visit all 57 states just as Obama hoped to do. The additional 7 states must be where the secret voters live...dun, dun, dunnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!

    August 19, 2013 09:30 am at 9:30 am |
  20. Eddie

    Where are the birthers (or The Donald) on this issue? What’s the difference:

    Person A: Mother: US-citizen; Father: Kenyan; Born in Hawaii (1960 the 1 year old 50th state of the US); democrat
    Person A: Mother: US-citizen; Father: Cuban; Born in Canada (as of 2013 no part of the US); republican

    Besides the last attribute that doesn’t have anything to do with it, why is person A in question of being a “natural born US-citizen” (even if he was born in Kenya – which I am NOT saying with this post – what’s the difference between Canada/Cuba and Kenya according to article 2, section 1, clause 5 of the US-Constitution?

    Or is the sinister R-word raising its ugly head here?

    Birthers, The Donald – anybody at home? Hello?

    August 19, 2013 09:30 am at 9:30 am |
  21. Hogan's Goat

    That is NOT a legal, long-form birth certificate. That man was born in Canada, and he can't run for President any more than Herman the German Cain can. Thought we didn't know, eh Herrmann?

    August 19, 2013 09:30 am at 9:30 am |
  22. Rosslaw

    "Birthers" all know that anyone like Cruz who chose to be born outside of the United States did so because they hate America. Cruz is actually Castro's illegitimate son-pass it on.

    August 19, 2013 09:32 am at 9:32 am |
  23. Lynda/Minnesota

    "Legal experts told the paper that Cruz is not only eligible for president in the United States, he's also technically a Canadian citizen and can even run for Parliament."

    Uh-oh. Decisions ... decisions. To engage or not to engage. To run or not to run.

    Beyond the fact that the Cruz citizenship hypocrisy is quite breathtaking, I am surprised that the GOP leadership (hint: Reince Preibus) would actually consider this man viable presidential material to begin with ... regardless of where he was born.

    It will be interesting and quite humorous to watch the Tea Party stumble over themselves trying to back track 5 years of anti-Obama talking points in their effort to legitimize Mr. Cruz ... not only with their talking points but also and too with their pocketbooks. [ Palin-speak for those who love this sort of round and round the mulberry bush hypocrisy ]

    No doubt this is where Mr. and Mr. Brothers-Koch enter ... stage right.

    August 19, 2013 09:32 am at 9:32 am |
  24. Richard Miller

    Seems pretty simple-renounce your other "citizenship". You are either and American or you aren't. Can't have it both ways.

    August 19, 2013 09:32 am at 9:32 am |
  25. Floyd from Illinois

    Looks like the Republicans shouldn't have let their Birthers play with matches.

    August 19, 2013 09:34 am at 9:34 am |
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