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.
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Let me get this right. He is a Canadian who serves in the Senate for a state that he was not born in. As a lawyer, represented several Chinese companies in complaints filed by U.S. companies. Where do his loyalties fall? Follow the dollar. That's were you'll find Ted. Not doing the right thing but doing what is best for Ted, even if its wrong for the U.S. of A.
How can he not be a Canadian citizen if he was born there? Anyone who was born in another country, automatically becomes that country's citizen. I don't think that has changed recently. President Obama was born in one of the states of America, Hawaii. Ted Cruz was born in Canada.
Sorry TED. Like a lot of the GOP you want us to live in the fifties and pretend all is good. As long as the GOP parades these people out they will never get the WH. This is 2013...get with the program.
Sinking ship USA
If Cruz is a natural born U.S. Citizen even when born in Canada, why was Obama's case controversial in the first place?
Even if born in Kenya he would have been a natural born U.S. citizen because (as is the case with Cruz) his mother was a U.S. citizen at the time of his birth. Am I wrong?
How can we have a president that is technically a citizen of another country? Talk about a conflict of interest! Wouldn't he have to renounce any citizenship rights at the very least?
Rand Paul and Ted Cruz are both in la la land if the think they have a chance at a white house .
There is no way
The Tea Party sails on a great sea of hypocrisy
So much Tea Party hate in the comments here. Truthfully, only a tiny handful still harbor the conspiracy theory regarding the Presidents place of birth. Most on the right are far more concerned about how poor his leadership skills are.
I agree with Cruz. Release your birth certificate & if somebody wants to challenge your eligibility let them file a lawsuit. That's what Obama should have done-ignored the whole issue until somebody filed a lawsuit. Which they would have lost. They have a *little* more possibility in Cruz' case since he apparently has dual citizenship, something never claimed (AFAIK) for Obama.
I say let him run in 2016. Let him appear ready to win the Republican nomination...and then we'll see what the GOP establishment will do about Cruz. They would have a fatally damaged candidate if they allowed Cruz to continue. They would also have a fatally damaged party were they to pre-empt the primary voting processes. So, yeah. Let him run. He's not eligible to hold the office and the GOP establishment knows it. I'm sure that Cruz knows it, too, but doesn't care.
Are we sure his mother was really a U.S. citizen???
There is nothing to 'renounce' or apply for in Canadian citizenship; he could move to Canada at any time and be a Canadian citizen just by virtue of one parent being Canadian and his being born there. But he's just another nut job like the guy who STILL claims our president, who is clearly a US citizen, 'never showed us his birth certificate'. Funny, because I saw it plastered on the news. He must have been sleeping off a drunk that morning.
You have to laugh out loud at the comments from the TP'ers posting anonymously, trying in vain to make a valid point regarding the birther movement... something they made up and yet cannot explain with any clarity of fact. In a way, it's good that we have idiots like Cruz in the mix. It makes it easier for people with brains to decide rather quickly that he is unfit for high office. Remember the last round of "Contestants" vying for the golden ticket? The supremely intelligent Right chose such a novelty known as Mitt, unfit for office. Well now, come ye all faithful followers of Cruz and try to make a convincing argument that he is worthy of consideration beyond his birth place.
It is my understanding, I had a niece born in Belgum her dad was serving this country, she was given dual citizenship and she had to claim which country when she turned 21. she of course chose America.
Obama was born in Kenya, not in the U.S. Just go ask the local Kenyan towns people where he was born as they have all sworn to this fact.
The DUH! factor is on full display here.
It's possible to be both a Canadian and a U.S. citizen – DUHHHHHH.
Someone born out of the country to a parent who is a U.S. citizen is, automatically, a U.S. citizen. DUHHHHH!
No, anyone born in another country does NOT automatically become a citizen of that country. That is only for the US. In the US, if you're born here, you get US citizenship. If you're born to or adopted by US citizen abroad, you can get US citizenship by parentage after filing for it at USCIS. You do NOT become a US citizen at birth by being born to US citizens abroad, as Cruz's spokeswoman claims. That's how John McCain did it (he is not a natural born citizen), and even if Obama was born in Kenya, his mother was a US citizen would be entitled to citizenship by parentage just like McCain got. There has never been any controversy until a black conservative Democrat like Obama wanted to become President and suddenly the Tea Party was picking apart every word trying to split hairs in a subject they knew nothing about.
Norma Vessels, not every country is like the US where if you're born here, then you are automatically a US citizen with a few exceptions (children born to foreign diplomats for example). Germany is an example where just being born there does not entitle a child to German citizenship.
So he could potentially become the US president and get free Canadian health care!
The way I see it is if Henry Kissenger wasn't eligible to be President when he was Secretary of State because he was born in Germany to American parents, then Ted Cruz damn well isn't eligible to be President because he was born in Canada to an Cuban father and American mother.
Those dastardly Canadians!!! Who knows what awful ideas they placed in little Teddy's head in his first four years of life. Universal healthcare? Same-sex marriage? Peacekeeping? Everyone says a personality is created in the first five years of life. Can America take a chance on a Canadian president? Everything seems to be going so great in the USA, after all.
We won't treat them like they treat us. The constitution says he can run regardless of whether we like him or not. However, he might need to address his dual citizenship.
Peter
The DUH! factor is on full display here.
It's possible to be both a Canadian and a U.S. citizen – DUHHHHHH.
Someone born out of the country to a parent who is a U.S. citizen is, automatically, a U.S. citizen. DUHHHHH!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Uh, no they're not. He would have had to have been born on U.S. soil, such as a U.S. military installation or Embassy/Consulate abroad. Considering the United States has no military bases in Canada, unless he was born at the U.S. Embassy/Consulate, he's not eligible. Meanwhile, President Obama WAS born in the United States to an American mother and a Kenyan father. According to the birthers, THAT didn't matter, and they argued both that his birth certificate is fake and that since his FATHER isn't American so therefore he isn't eligible to hold office.
To the haters, Ovama didn't nor can he pay for his records to be sealed and if you think that Harvard gave him a pass think again.
We are talking one of the mot prestigious universities in the world.
I know mire than a few Harvard lawyers and to be ELECTED to the Harvard Law Review you work for it!!
@geg, unfortunately the Canadians don't want their missile or any part of him back.