It’s Official: Ted Cruz is Also Canadian

Aug 19, 2013
8:53 AM

This is perhaps one of the most ironic political stories we have ever seen. Here’s scoop: yesterday Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), the guy who thinks undocumented individuals can never ever become US citizens, released his birth certificate, according to The Dallas Morning News:

CRUZ_0819NAT_32638724

Via DMN

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.

Rich, just rich. And like the article says, it does raise some issues:

“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.

So, Ted Cruz has dual citizenship, but he doesn’t even know it. We are just wondering how his “Patriot” supporters are going to spin this one.