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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Nancy Ruiz asked:
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!!
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Your daughter is a natural born U.S. citizen, therefore eligible to run for POTUS. Puerto Rico is not a separate country from the United States. Those born in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens. Most anyone from there already knows that they are U.S. citizens.
I recall how throughout the 80's and most of the 90's how many illegals would dismiss citizenship questions by claiming to be from Puerto Rico, despite having totally different accents from the native islanders. Imagine an adult US southerner with a heavy southern accent claiming to have been born and raised in Boston, and had lived there all of their life until a few months ago.
Cruz, however, is a completely different story. He does not meet the mainstream definition of "natural born", which has been written about by several Supreme Court justices in their written opinions in several cases. Justices have consistently written that "natural born", as defined by most academics, means born in the U.S. This was the mind set behind the writing of the 14th Amendment to include the language in its' Section 1.
Born in Canada, eh? Does that mean he has a Canadian birth certificate? Funny how Cruz will be accepted by the birther movement when they insisted that "natural-born citizen" meant BOTH parents had to be born American citizens for the candidate to be considered elegible for the office of President.
"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?"
Sorry, but I don't think you're correct here. P.R. is U.S. territory, therefore your daughter is not ineligible (unless she was born before 1917 when P.R. residents officially became U.S. citizens.) John McCain was eligible for a similar reason. He was born on a U.S. military base in Panama (which is considered sovereign U.S. territory.)
"There are thousands of U.S military dependents born every year at an overseas hospital to a U.S. father/mother and a foreign national father/mother."
Overseas U.S. military bases are considered sovereign U.S. territory.
Ted Cruz is a communist born in a Socialist country who is now a Tea Party member. Something happened at birth. This boy's not right.
"Funny how Cruz will be accepted by the birther movement when they insisted that "natural-born citizen" meant BOTH parents had to be born American citizens for the candidate to be considered elegible for the office of President."
No one ever said that. The question was location of birth, not whether both parents were citizens. That's why Obama's birth certificate was sought. It was well-known that his father was not a citizen. At any rate, long story short, Obama is eligibile because he was born in HI to an American parent. Cruz appears to be ineligible, due to being born in Canada.
Cruz is about as likely to win an election for president as he is of becoming honest and forthright. No chance at all.
You really dont think the democrats / republicans are going to make sure before they let him run? ok, maybe, they didnt check before obama was elected 🙂
-just asking
so the lefties have no problem with an illegal coming into this country and popping out a new us citizen (aka anchor baby, which an industry has sprung up around). but if an american citizen happens to be overseas when they go into labor and deliver a baby, their baby is suddenly not an american citizen? hahaha... the lunacy of the left in clear view for all to see!
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What lunacy are you referring to? Pointing out the farcical nature of the birther movement is hardly lunacy, its a public service. And can you please supply real evidence of this vast industry that you claim has sprung up around " anchor babies"? The truth is that you cannot, as usual.
Let me simplify the situation: Cruz is in the same position as Obama would have been if he had been born in Kenya. Birthers, are you on this?
Actually vbscript, after President Obama's citizenship was established there were several right here on this site that claimed the fact that his father was Kenyan disqualified him. Crazy right.
And right now to this day you can do a poll in the southern states and a large majority still think he was born in Kenya.
If I read this right there is NO way that Ted Cruz is elegible to run for President. As a Duel Citizen he is ineligible I believe. He would have to completely renounce his citizenship from Canada for a start. Puerto Rico is a commonwealth I believe which does make it eligible (this would be fuzzy). In the end, I would still say no. He was not born of US parents (Puerto Rico has refused citizenship multiple times already) and was not born in the US.
Finally, the truth is out! Ted Cruz is just the point man in the insidious Mexican/Canadian plot to take over the US!
By that logic if President Obama had been born in Kenya of an American mother, he could still be president of the United States even with a Kenyan birth certificate. (As it happens, President Obama was born in Hawaii; so, there was no need for any controversy.)
@Dar nation, it's refreshing that your statement is so positive despite it being completely wrong. You are either amazingly ignorant of US statute, or just a "natural born" Pinocchio.
Cruz was born in 1970, so the law which was in effect as of December 24, 1952 applies. Since his parents were married at the time of his birth, and his mother was a US citizen, as long as she had lived in the US for at least ten years prior to Cruz' birth, and lived a minimum of 5 of those years in the United States after her 14th birthday, Cruz is a "natural born US citizen" and therefore eligible to serve as President.
By the way, despite what his office says, by my reading of Canadian law, he is also a Canadian citizen, whether he likes it or not.
He needs spokespersons who know what they are talking about. . "To our knowledge, he never had Canadian citizenship, so there is nothing to renounce." Being born in Canada automatically makes you a Canadian citizen.
Interesting. Being born in Canada to one US parent is OK. But being born in Kenya to one US parent (pretending for a moment Obama actually was born in Kenya) is not OK? Very interesting, indeed.
NEWSFLASH on cross's Cuban born daddy. He came to the US in 1957.
This means that he was, as we all now know, part of the Batista regime, a dictator like his son wants to be, but he only became an American citizen in 2005.
I guess he doesnt love the US that much either? Did his god tell him that he had to become a citizen also? He has already claimed that his rotten fruit was born for greatness. I am NOT kidding. Those are his words.
A Republican falsely accused the President was not a US born citizen and he said that the impeachment was in process. has he also filed a legal action against this Cruz? Or does he think Canada is also part of the US's territory? How can this Clueless Harvard grad thought he has right to run the president?
So, my question to Ted would be, "Where does your REAL loyalty lie. . . in Washington . . . or in OTTAWA?!?!?!?
A good guess what CRETINOUS CRUZ can do with his birth certificate.
Rather than weighing in, I prefer to let Donald Trump decide this. I would only ask that he be consistent with his position the last time the issue came up. If being born outside the US, and/or having a foreign-born father was a disaqualfier then, it should be also now.... unless the race of that foreign born dad makes a difference....
Doesn't matter since he won't make it beyond the first debate.
NSL
@Dar nation, it's refreshing that your statement is so positive despite it being completely wrong. You are either amazingly ignorant of US statute, or just a "natural born" Pinocchio.
Cruz was born in 1970, so the law which was in effect as of December 24, 1952 applies. Since his parents were married at the time of his birth, and his mother was a US citizen, as long as she had lived in the US for at least ten years prior to Cruz' birth, and lived a minimum of 5 of those years in the United States after her 14th birthday, Cruz is a "natural born US citizen" and therefore eligible to serve as President.
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You're wrong. The 1952 did not affect Puerto Rico in that way. It added Guam to a list of territories that *already* included Puerto Rico of where people being born there would be citizens under the 14th Amendment. The 1952 law did not include any parentage requirements, and nothing since has.
As for all of that stuff about living here or there for a number years....turn off the right wing media and get real sources of information. None of that stuff has ever existed in any law that I'm aware of. Try reading the 14th Amendment, Article 1, sometime. If you're born on U.S. soil, then you are a U.S. citizen.
You keep him, we don't want him back.