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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OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A CUBAN father!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How can we be sure he isn't a mole who is secretly reporting to Castro???????? If he becomes President will he send all his political enemies to Gitmo so they can roll Cuban cigars???????? On the other hand, maybe he will make Cuba the 51st state and allow the sale of Cuban Cigars here. Works for me..............Go Cruz.
I am willing to grant Cruz that he is a naturally born American citizen. First, the entire idea was questioned when it was first proposed. It was an effort to make sure that some England sympathizer wouldn't become president. But my main point is that I would love to have Cruz become a candidate for the presidency. His blow-hard approach and extreme positions will set back his Tea Party supporters back for several presidential elections.
Ted Cruz is a Tea Party favorite and a Republican senator. He is just as eligible as any other Americans to be President. I wouldn't vote for him as his politics are way too far right for me but I want to see the birthers start their lawsuits contesting Ted's right to run. I was just debating a birther this morning and he was giving all of the standard birther arguments on why President Obama is not a "legitimate" citizen who can be president. So, come on birthers and do your stuff. The country is full of courts so start filling those lawsuits while the rest of us sit back and laugh at you again!
Obviously, Cruz isn't a natural born citizen and isn't eligible or qualified to run for president. But try to tell the teabaggers that.
Cruz' birth certificate is a fake.
He was born in Cuba.
He is not qualified to be president.
.
Good point Chuckie, but the birthers could care less about facts, they simply want the white back in the WH.
Cuban communist!
1. We have not seen the LONG FORM birth certificate.
2. He is obviously part of an international plot to restore the US to control of the British Monarch.
3. He probably even speaks SPANISH!!!!
Canadian Userper!
Cruz is a Cuban-Canadian and should be deported back to Canada, but I doubt they would want this lunaticTexan back.
Glad to know he never acted on his Canadian citizenship......we really prefer this wacko remains south of the border, thanks!
The GOP version of Obama?
WOW, if Cruz becomes POTUS, can we then expect "Bay of Pigs 2, the Sequel?"
These Cuban guys left because the old Cuba was run by a few rich guys and all the rest were poor. A middle class never existed. Now the GOP guys seem to think that is the answer for America?? Wait until an American Fidel Castro shows up.
Randy, San Francisco: "Yes...but is Donald Trump going to challenge the birth certificate as a fake during the presidential primary debates?"
He very well may. For Trump, it is the attention that matters. Remember, he thought Obama was a great President before he found out that he could get more publicity from denouncing Obama and jumping on to the birther bandwagon. For him to make the switch back to hard core Liberal would not take much of an effort, merely an announcement.
If this guy gets the nomination or God forbid, elected I know one person who's citizenship will be affected. Mine, as I will no longer want to call the United States home.
Funny how Obama's mother was a US citizens an the birthers claim he was not born in the USA so in not qualified, but thet say Cruz even though was born in Canada is qualified.
If you are ok with this guy running for President but objected to Obama being President over birth issues, you can now know that you are a racist.
Reporting to Castro? This nation would be better of with CASTRO running now than Obama!
He's a dual-citizen! That means he isn't "natural born" and therefore cannot run for president!
Get on that one, Orly Taitz and Sheriff Joe!
If he wasn't born on US soil or territory or possesion or military base he IS NOT a natural born citizen.
Is he a citizen, YES his mother was an American citizen. is he a Natural born citizen within the definition of US
law? No he is not.
@John, really? who are they? I'm very much pro Tea Party and I say he is NOT a natural born citizen and is not eligible to be President.
I want to hear from Donald Trump. No matter where he is born even if it was on Mars, the tea baggers will only believe what they want to. I am so sick and tired of these lunatics who live in another world and don't believe in REALITY.
tom walsh: If the Dems would stop Voter ID so they can cheat in every election I believe they would cheat on Obama's Birth Certificate."
You still don't get it, do you? Ok, I will lay it out for you. If Cruz is considered a "natural-born" US citizen even though he was born in Canada merely because his mother was a US citizen, then it does not matter one iota where Obama was born. Therefore, the issue of whether or not his birth certificate was "faked" (hint - it wasn't) is a mute point. However, I doubt such facts will stop the hypocrisy spewing from the right.
In 2008 the US senate needed to make a special resolution recognizing John McCain as a "natural born US citizen". Ted Cruz will likely need a special resolution too since he wasn't born in the US or in a US territory. He also still has Canadian citizenship (it is automatic on birth) so he may want to renounce that before he runs.
"moot" point, that is.