Ted was born in Canada. It is a fact. Why don't we hear Trump and the rest of the crazies carrying on about how he cannot be elected president?

Because he is not running for president.

Wanna bet?

How would you pay off the bet?

Common Sense would dictate that (I assume without having to look up) at least one of his parents was an American citizen so this is no big deal.

But since that fringe doesn't have Common Sense, VERY GOOD QUESTION!

Isn't it a requirement that a presidential candidate be born on the US soil? If a parent being American is enough, so what was the fuss about Obama? Her mother was an American.

No you don't need to be born in the US to become president. Mitt Romneys dad was born in Mexico while his parents where missionires there and he ran for president. The Obama birth certificate nonsense was just far right bs. Just like the Bush stole the election was far left bs.

Cruz will likely be deemed a "natural-born" citizen, but his case is not as easy as McCain's, Romney's, Barry Goldwater's (who was born in the Arizona Territory prior to statehood),or even Obamma's. McCain, Romney and Goldwater had parents, who were both American citizens. Cruz' mother is an American citizen, but his father was a Cuban citizen, thereby conferring multiple citizenships on him at birth. Similarly, Obama was born with dual citizenship (American and United Kingdom Colonies), but he was born on American soil.

While the Supreme Court hasn't fully defined natural-born citizen, two things are certain:

1. A person born in the United States of parents, who are citizens, is a natural-born citizen. It is extremely likely that courts would agree that a person born in the US of at least one parent with US citizenship is natural-born.

2. A person, who is a naturalized citizen, is not a natural-born citizen.

Therefore, if Ted Cruz was naturalized, he would clearly be ineligible to serve as president. Otherwise, he would likely be deemed eligible. Like Obama, he had parents of different citizenship, but unlike Obama, he was born outside the United States.

So what was the fuss about Obama again?

Kly, I agree with your analysis. However, as long as one parent is a US citizen, I would not have a problem with Cruz or other's eligibility for the Presidency.

By the way, I was listening to Geraldo this morning. He's talking with Ann Coulter. Now, between them, they probably know as much or more about the US Constitution (or should) as anyone. However, when speaking of Ted Cruz, Geraldo states that the Constitution says that one has to be born in the US to be President. I waited for Ann to definitively straighten him out, but she doesn't. Rather, she seems either confused or didn't know what the Constitution actually states (which I find hard to believe since she is a constitutional law attorney and professor). Finally, one of Geraldo's producers got him a copy of the Constitution from which he read on the air. Madonne!

They should have stuck to the "He's a Muslim atheist!" argument.

FOX isn't known for understanding the Constitution as they consider O'Reilly, Hannity and Beck (three college dropouts) to be constitutional scholars. And while Coulter is often misinformed (believing that canada fought with us in the Viet Nam War), it doesn't slow her down on being outrageous.

I think the Supreme Court would have no problem finding Cruz to meet Article II requirements as long as he never was naturalized.

It's funny that whenever the Supreme Court has used the term "natural-born citizen," it has always referred to those born on American soil of two US-citizen parents. The reason is that it has not been asked to decide this issue, but I believe that precedent would confirm that those born in the US of parents of mixed citizenships are natural-born. Of course, regardless of citizenship of parents, the children born here are US citizens under the VIV Amendment.

It will be into see whether the Birthers challenge Cruz, who is posturing for a run, when his eligibility is more strained than Obama's.

They won't challenge Cruz, if partisan nonsense is as dependable as it usually is. Then again, one of his rivals probably will stir that shit up. Imagine him and Rubio dicking over who is more real American. Texas vs Florida hispanics, that should be fun.

Off-topic, but I've always supported a Constitutional Amendment extending Presidential eligibility to naturalized citizens. Make them eligible after 20 to 35 years of citizenship.

Yeah, I was thinking that GOP primary will likely take care of Cruz. BTW, thanks Kly for clarifying that as always.

The Republican leadership is making themselves seem desperate in attempt to get a Hispanic candidate on 2016 presidential ballot. Rubio seemed silly when he had to keep sipping from a water bottle during his televised rebuttal speech. It was meant to be his big moment, instead he looked weak. I like Cruz, however they need to have bigger field.

I agree. As I mentioned, the Founders never began to define "natural born" most likely because none of them were natural born, and they would mostly be dead before a natural born citizen would take office. The concerns that existed then about electing a non-natural born president do not exist today, especially with a much wider electorate and the ease, necessity and practice of international travel. I don't think there is a valid distinction among a US citizen, a natural born citizen and a naturalized citizen for Article II, Section I purposes.

I would set the eligibility requirement for naturalized citizens at 14 years, the same as the residency requirement in the Constitution.

Kly your idea makes perfect sense until you realize such a scenario would have made Kissinger eligible to be president.

As so many of the books about the constitutional Convention make clear, many of the Founding Fathers were concerned about American government becoming a pawn of Europe by installing one of their own as President. The following quote from George Mason of Virginia illustrates such:

[Great Britain might send] “over her tools who might bribe their way into the [presidency].”

The natural born requirement was incipient with such concerns.

It still would. I think he's still living.

Here's an interesting sidenote to presidential history. There remains some doubt as to whether Chester A. Arthur was constitutionally eligible to serve as president following the assassination of Garfield. His father was a British citizen, and Arthur, who had never run for office in his life until he ran on the garfield ticket in 1880 intentionally destroyed records concerning his family history and birth.

Can't trust those Brits....right Yogi?

Yes, he was just in a Stephen Colbert video!

All these birthers have been running around with their hair on fire about Obama's birth since 2007. Now that their boy Cruz was definitely not born in the U.S. they have decided "natural borm citizen" means something different than it did several years ago. Nothing about original intent ... no rationale...except a different candidate. More proof the wingwad teabaggers are driven by racism.

Canada-born Ted Cruz became a citizen of that country as well as U.S.



Sen. Ted Cruz's birth certificate shows he was born in Canada in 1970. It was released exclusively to The Dallas Morning News.

By TODD J. GILLMAN

Published: 18 August 2013 11:04 PM

WASHINGTON — Born in Canada to an American mother, Ted Cruz became an instant U.S. citizen. But under Canadian law, he also became a citizen of that country the moment he was born.

Unless the Texas Republican senator formally renounces that citizenship, he will remain a citizen of both countries, legal experts say.

That means he could assert the right to vote in Canada or even run for Parliament. On a lunch break from the U.S. Senate, he could head to the nearby embassy — the one flying a bright red maple leaf flag — pull out his Calgary, Alberta, birth certificate and obtain a passport.

“He’s a Canadian,” said Toronto lawyer Stephen Green, past chairman of the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Section.

The circumstances of Cruz’s birth have fueled a simmering debate over his eligibility to run for president. Knowingly or not, dual citizenship is an apparent if inconvenient truth for the tea party firebrand, who shows every sign he’s angling for the White House.

“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,” said spokeswoman Catherine Frazier. “To our knowledge, he never had Canadian citizenship, so there is nothing to renounce.”

The U.S. Constitution allows only a “natural born” American citizen to serve as president. Most legal scholars who have studied the question agree that includes an American born overseas to an American parent, such as Cruz.

The Constitution says nothing about would-be presidents born with dual citizenship.

Detractors have derided Cruz as “Canadian Ted,” saying he can’t run for president because he wasn’t born on U.S. soil.

Cruz, a Harvard-trained lawyer and former clerk for the U.S. chief justice, disagrees. He reasserted last week that being an American by birth makes him eligible.

Looking ahead

Two visits in recent weeks to Iowa, the first state to winnow the field of presidential candidates, set off a fresh flurry of commentary on the issue. He heads to New Hampshire, another early voting state, on Friday — another strong sign that he’s eyeing a 2016 run.

The political impact of his citizenship status remains to be seen. Doubts about President Barack Obama’s heritage dogged him throughout 2008 and persist among hardcore “birthers.”

Officials at Citizenship and Immigration Canada said that without a signed privacy waiver from Cruz, they cannot discuss his case.

“Generally speaking, under the Citizenship Act of 1947, those born in Canada were automatically citizens at birth unless their parent was a foreign diplomat,” said ministry spokeswoman Julie Lafortune.

For the first time, Cruz released his birth certificate Friday in response to inquiries from The Dallas Morning News.

Dated a month after his birth on Dec. 22, 1970, it shows that Rafael Edward Cruz was born to Rafael Bienvenido Cruz, a “geophysical consultant” born in Matanzas, Cuba, and the former Eleanor Elizabeth Wilson, born in Wilmington, Del.

Her status made the baby a U.S. citizen at birth. For that, U.S. law required at least one parent who was a U.S. citizen who had lived for at least a decade in the United States.

She registered his birth with the U.S. consulate, Frazier said, and the future senator received a U.S. passport in 1986 ahead of a high school trip to England.

Rafael Cruz, now a pastor in suburban Dallas, fled Cuba for Texas as a teen in 1957. He remained a Cuban citizen until he became a naturalized American in 2005.

Automatic citizenship

Until 1947, people born in Canada were British subjects. The system Canada adopted after that closely mirrors that of the U.S.

Both confer citizenship automatically to anyone born on their territory, and to children of citizens even when the birth takes place overseas.

By 1970, the Cruzes had moved to the Canadian oil patch, where they launched a seismic-data business. For purpose of citizenship, being foreigners made no difference.

“If a child was born in the territory, he is Canadian, period,” said France Houle, a law professor at the University of Montreal. “He can ask for a passport. He can vote.”

The fact that Cruz left Canada when he was 4 doesn’t affect his status there, either.

“If you leave when you’re 2 minutes old, you’re still an American. It’s the same in Canada,” said Allison Christians, a law professor at McGill University in Montreal. “He’s a Canadian citizen.”

Having practiced international tax law in the U.S. for 25 years, Christians has made a close study of citizenship rules. They often come into play in tax cases.

“They can feel as American as they want. But the question of citizenship is determined by the law of the territory in which you were physically born,” she said. “It’s not up to the Cruz family to decide whether they’re citizens.”

As a Cuban, Rafael Cruz probably could have requested citizenship for his son, experts said. Even if he’d wanted to, the Cuban Constitution bans dual citizenship. And the chance to register the child passed long ago.

“The U.S. and Cuba have very similar legal patterns and requirements,” said David Abraham, a professor of immigration and citizenship law at the University of Miami.

The situation reflects the overlapping jurisdictions, said Demetrios Papademetriou, president of the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute, who called birthright citizenship common in English-speaking countries.

“If Ted Cruz was born in Canada, he is Canadian. He is American. He is a dual citizen,” he said.

That’s not uncommon in Canada, especially in French-speaking Quebec. But even there it can cause headaches for politicians.

In 2006, Canada’s Liberal Party Leader Stéphane Dion — born in Quebec City and also a citizen of France, his mother’s homeland — gave into a public uproar. He promised, reluctantly, to give up his French citizenship if he became prime minister, which never happened.

Taxes

Unlike the U.S., which requires its citizens to pay taxes no matter where they live in the world, Canada only taxes people who reside there.

So there’s rarely much reason to relinquish Canadian citizenship.

For Cruz, though, it may become a political imperative. Though it would not affect his eligibility for the presidency, he could face questions about whether it’s appropriate for a commander in chief to have dual citizenship.

The relinquishment process is easy enough. It can take from a few weeks to a year. There’s a four-page form with a $100 fee. Applicants must appear before a special judge to prove they have citizenship elsewhere and aren’t engaged in fraud.

Records are kept private.

Green, one of Canada’s top immigration lawyers, has counseled pro sports teams, athletes and major corporations. He knows one person who renounced his Canadian citizenship as a condition of joining the U.S. Secret Service.

“I’ve done it for people,” he said. “No problem.”

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/...ell-as-u.s..ece

Like the United States, Canada provides that all children born inside their borders are citizens. If Cruz is nominated, he will be the first candidate, nominated by a major party, openly to have dual national citizenship. Look for him to renounce Canadian citizenship if he plans a run. While there's nothing preventing him from running as a holder of dual citizenship, it would eliminate some of the challenges and criticisms.

While Obama was born with dual citizenship, his Kenyan citizenship expired naturally on his 23rd birthday. At the time of his birth Kenya was a British colony, so by virtue of his father's citizeship, he was born with US and UK citizenship. Kenya won independence a few years later, and his UK citizenship became Kenyan. Kenya drafted a constitution that required citizens with dual citizenship to renounce formally their foreign citizenship and swear allegiance to Kenya by their 23rd birthday. Adid neither, his Kenyan citizenship expired.

On his 23rd birthday? I never knew that. Good info, thanks.

But wait!! Isn't that the short form birth certificate? I wanna see the long form.




TIS

Thats right, i forgot about the long form.

I was born in Brooklyn NY and you should see how little info is on my NYC birth certificate. Basically just my name, birth date, mothers name and fathers name. I guess there is a long form somewhere but the one they gave me is very short with just the very basic information. My hospital certificate of birth is very long though, much more info on that then on my NYC Birth Certificate.

Cruz announced that he will formally renounce Canadian citizenship. He wants to run.

I think it is photoshopped. Where's Trump when we need him?