The Guardian – by Joanna Walters
Senator Ted Cruz has said that he is taking steps to renounce his mysterious Canadian citizenship – in a move he insists does not in any way indicate a run for the White House in 2016.
The junior senator from Texas, who made a name for himself as a driving force behind efforts to bring down the Affordable Care Act by way of a government shutdown, was surprised to learn earlier this year – after some digging by one of his home state newspapers – that he reportedly enjoys dual citizenship.
In an interview with the same organ, the Dallas Morning News, published on Sunday, Cruz announced he was hiring lawyers to help extricate him from his apparently unhelpful surplus nationality.
Cruz was born in the oil-rich region around Calgary, Alberta, to an American mother and a Cuban father. His mother’s nationality automatically made him an American citizen, regardless of the location of his birth or the citizenship of his father, who later became a naturalised American citizen. But his arrival into the world on Canadian soil also would have endowed him automatically with the nationality of that country, in accordance with Canadian law.
Cruz, 43, has always presented himself as purely American and was unaware of possibly holding dual citizenship until the Dallas Morning News presented the notion to him last August – a concept Cruz does not dispute “at this point”.
“I have retained counsel that is preparing the paperwork to renounce the citizenship,” he told the newspaper on Sunday.
According to the newspaper, Cruz and his parents were startled when it was revealed that he was a citizen of both countries. Cruz said he had been led to believe by his mother that it would have taken an affirmative act of claiming his Canadian citizenship, which the family had never done, to make it so.
Regardless of how many passports Cruz is entitled to hold, the simple fact that he qualifies as a “natural born American” because of his mother’s nationality is enough to equip him legally to become president of the United States. Cruz previously released his birth certificate to the Dallas Morning News, in an effort to hush speculation that he was not a genuine American and therefore would be ineligible to be president.
The rightwing “birther” movement still disputes that President Barack Obama is a natural-born American, despite the public presentation of his full birth certificate from his native state of Hawaii.
In the interview published on Sunday, Cruz shrugged off any suggestions that his move was the beginnings of a run for the White House in 2016. “My political perspective is focused on representing the state of Texas,” he said.
The topic of the senator’s nationality – and possibly his lofty political ambitions – reportedly came up last month, when he met with the larger-than-life real estate mogul Donald Trump, one of the most vocal skeptics regarding Obama’s nationality. Cruz admitted that his Canadian-ness was discussed, “though not in any significant respect”.
Cruz has begun making appearances in states that hold the early primaries and caucuses in the selection process for presidential candidates, as well as making moves to raise money for what could be a high-profile campaign.
Following his interview he released a further statement. “The Dallas Morning News says that I may technically have dual citizenship,” it said. “Assuming that is true I will renounce any Canadian citizenship. Nothing against Canada, but I’m an American by birth and as a US senator I believe I should be only an American.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/29/ted-cruz-lawyers-renounce-canadian-citizenship
What other Senators and Congressmen have dual citizenships? ?? MANY DO.
Cruz is not eligible to be president no matter what he does.
I don’t care what this idiot says or does. Nothing about him will be worth reading unless his detached head is being kicked around like a soccer ball.
BAHAHAHA!!!! ROLMFAO!!! This guy is such a joke, it’s not even funny. I even see a guy in Dallas having a bumper sticker that says “Ted Cruz for president” on his truck. What a joke. Do these people even have a brain outside the party line? Do they even know what they are fighting for? Do they even know the Constitution? Do they even have a brain whatsoever?
And in regards to this article, Ted still doesn’t get it. He was BORN in Canada. NOT the U.S. Therefore he is INELIGIBLE to be president. PERIOD!!! He can change his nationality a hundred times over, but he can NEVER be president because his baby ass was not on U.S. soil when he was born. Maybe he ought to run for Canadian presidency. I hear they hire crack addicts to be mayors. He should have no problem winning.
I just don’t get it. Why do people continue to play the two party game. If Obama is not eligible because he was clearly not born in this country, then what the hell makes you think Ted Cruz is eligible? Because anyone but Obama is better and he is the other party? OH FOR CRYIN’ OUT LOUD!!! When will this childish bullshit ever end. Do people have a brain cell left in their heads? I’m so sick of this shit. WTF is wrong with these people? I mean how is it that people can seriously think they still have a choice or that voting matters after the last election? I just don’t get it. Clear and in your face fraud, yet they are too chickenshit to face the truth when it’s right in front of their eyes. WAKE UP, SHEEPLE!!! It’s time to grow up and put away childish things!
“Cruz was born in the oil-rich region around Calgary, Alberta, to an American mother and a Cuban father. His mother’s nationality automatically made him an American citizen, regardless of the location of his birth or the citizenship of his father, who later became a naturalised American citizen.”
What part of “NATURAL BORN AMERICAN” do you not understand? There’s nothing to talk about!!!!
As if voting , when the time comes . For whom ever they put in our face would matter , that’s the joke
And tons of sheeple fall for it time and time over , with the same shitty outcome , that my friends is the definition of insanity