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. Yvonne Edelman

    The question is not about citizenship – Cruz is not qualified to be in public office at all. He is a hate monger and a racist!

    August 19, 2013 01:23 pm at 1:23 pm |
  2. Anonymous

    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

    So ALL of you posting are smarter and know more than the legal experts ????? don't think too much of yourselves

    August 19, 2013 01:25 pm at 1:25 pm |
  3. GnatB

    So, he can become the U.S. president, become a member of the Canadian Parliament, then unit the two countries under one ruler.

    Ok, probably not.

    August 19, 2013 01:26 pm at 1:26 pm |
  4. Joe

    Nooooo....we have to make sure Ted runs. The clown car has to be completely full before the primary season begins otherwise who will watch?

    August 19, 2013 01:26 pm at 1:26 pm |
  5. KrjMc

    Do you think the conservatives will question him as well – or just those who are different than them? Since he was born in a different country he is not a real American citizen and is not eligible to be the POTUS. It does not matter if one of his parents was an American as they were not in another country on vacation nor were they military, they actually lived there so he is a Canadian by birth.

    August 19, 2013 01:27 pm at 1:27 pm |
  6. Pablo Cruz

    I seen the birth certificate. It's a forgery. He done it at Kinkos. He's a stinkin foreigner!

    August 19, 2013 01:27 pm at 1:27 pm |
  7. Don

    Ted Cruz is actually a dual citizen. Being born in Canada makes you automatically a Canadian. The question should be, should those holding more than one nationality be permitted to be President?

    August 19, 2013 01:32 pm at 1:32 pm |
  8. Genx

    Under Canadian law, he is 100% a Canadian citizen. He can obtain a passport, Social Insurance Number, and legally live and work anywhere in Canada.

    August 19, 2013 01:32 pm at 1:32 pm |
  9. Stu

    Anyone who ever complained about President Obama and the "birther" issue is a huge hypocrite if they don't jump right on this (potential) birther issue concerning Ted Cruz. Can anyone say "Donald Trump" or "Joe Arpaio"?

    August 19, 2013 01:35 pm at 1:35 pm |
  10. Malory Archer

    Malory Archer

    JomoDaMusicMan, tailgunner ted would only be a U.S. citizen if he was born on a U.S. military base in Canada. Since we have no miltary bases in Canada, it's a moot point.

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Correction.... tailgunner ted would only be eligible to be POTUS if he was born on a U.S. military base in Canada. Since we have no miltary bases in Canada, it's a moot point.

    August 19, 2013 01:36 pm at 1:36 pm |
  11. Susan StoHelit

    Entertaining.

    If the birthers don't go nuts against this guy, they prove themselves complete hypocrites. After all, they were up in arms against Obama with the mere belief that he was born in another country. This guy actually was born in another country – so unless they're total hypocrites, they'd have to be against him.

    Obama was a natural born citizen by two counts – an American mother, plus being born in America. But birthers were too ignorant to understand this and lived by the mistaken belief that if they could just prove he wasn't born in America, they could kick him out of office.

    August 19, 2013 01:37 pm at 1:37 pm |
  12. Jonathan

    People, people people .. Seriously read the constuition... Cruz is a American. I for one refuse to engage in a birther movement just because a hand ful of Idiots from the Right did the same and were just as wrong then, as you all would be now.

    August 19, 2013 01:37 pm at 1:37 pm |
  13. Al

    copanut, the birthers claim Obama was born in Mombasa Kenya, but they didn't do their homework. Mombasa was not part of Kenya at that time. It didn't become a part of Kenya until December 12, 1963, two years after Obama was born. Before that it was under the control of the Sultan of Zanzibar.

    August 19, 2013 01:37 pm at 1:37 pm |
  14. davecu

    Pretty easy when you have nothing to hide, isn't it?

    August 19, 2013 01:38 pm at 1:38 pm |
  15. Malory Archer

    Anonymous

    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

    So ALL of you posting are smarter and know more than the legal experts ????? don't think too much of yourselves

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    What "legal experts"? And on whose payroll were they when they made that pronouncement?

    August 19, 2013 01:38 pm at 1:38 pm |
  16. Will S

    Seems odd that you could become President with two passports but that you have to renounce foreign citizenship to gain a Top Secret clearance.

    August 19, 2013 01:41 pm at 1:41 pm |
  17. Nancy Ruiz

    I have two children. My husband and I are US citizens by birth. My son was born in North Carolina, my daughter in San Juan, Puerto Rico. My son who now resides in the US may run for President, my daughter never will be able to do so yet a US citizen, born in Canada of a Mother who is a US citizen and a Cuban father can? Explain this one to me!!

    August 19, 2013 01:41 pm at 1:41 pm |
  18. Sivick

    I don't care what they say, that dude was born in Canada. Obama had a U.S. mother and was born in Hawaii and we had to hear about it for 5 years! Natural born means on U.S. soil! (payback is fun!)

    August 19, 2013 01:42 pm at 1:42 pm |
  19. sayer

    So all it requires is one parent to be an American citizen? Obama qualifies.

    August 19, 2013 01:43 pm at 1:43 pm |
  20. notogop

    I seriously doubt that Canadians would even consider him and his politics for any public office, let alone elect him

    Here's a scary thought: Cruz for POTUS and Rick Perry for VEEP.

    August 19, 2013 01:44 pm at 1:44 pm |
  21. Mara Tam

    don't you have to be born on American soil?

    August 19, 2013 01:44 pm at 1:44 pm |
  22. Steve S

    Only if Donald Trump & the Tea Party 'approves', can Cruz be considered a 'real' American.

    August 19, 2013 01:44 pm at 1:44 pm |
  23. Al-NY,NY

    Al

    copanut, the birthers claim Obama was born in Mombasa Kenya, but they didn't do their homework. Mombasa was not part of Kenya at that time. It didn't become a part of Kenya until December 12, 1963, two years after Obama was born. Before that it was under the control of the Sultan of Zanzibar.
    -------–

    "but but........he's not amurkin!" Those dummies are so clueless it's not funny. They'll believe what they want no matter how many facts are put in front of their faces

    August 19, 2013 01:45 pm at 1:45 pm |
  24. cedar rapids

    'ColdWarVet – So whay are Obama's school transcripts off limits? Could it be that he applied for aid claiming to be a foreign student? If this is the case, he committed fraud in applying for aid if he was a non-foreign student. One can only wonder why his transcripts are off limits.'

    Seriously? people are still claiming this known April Fools joke as being a genuine claim?
    He did not claim to be a foreign student. First off the news agency that suppoedly released this story said it wasnt them. Secondly, the organization mention in the story did not exist when it broke (someone has since created a site for the company to take advantage of the people searching for it). Thirdly, the claim that a British news paper puplished an article about it showed no such article, and lastly, and this is the biggest clue, the story originally broke on April 1st, 2009 ....note that date? April 1st. big clue as to its validity, huge clue.....but apparently not to those people that still insist on talking about it.

    August 19, 2013 01:45 pm at 1:45 pm |
  25. Mara Tam

    Hey, he can benefit from Canadian health care!

    August 19, 2013 01:46 pm at 1:46 pm |
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