{"id":2313,"date":"2016-02-18T22:07:25","date_gmt":"2016-02-19T04:07:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/?p=2313"},"modified":"2016-02-18T22:07:25","modified_gmt":"2016-02-19T04:07:25","slug":"the-ted-cruz-eligibility-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/?p=2313","title":{"rendered":"The Ted Cruz Eligibility Question"},"content":{"rendered":"

Senator Rafael Edward \u201cTed\u201d Cruz (R-TX), a leading candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, was born on December 22, 1970, at the Foothills General Hospital<\/a> in Calgary<\/a>, Alberta<\/a>, Canada<\/a>.\u00a0 His parents were Eleanor Elizabeth (Wilson) Cruz, a U.S. citizen, born in Wilmington, Delaware, and Rafael Bienvenido Cruz<\/a>, a native of Matanzas, Cuba.<\/p>\n

Cruz\u2019s Canadian birth certificate, first uncovered and released by the Dallas Morning News <\/em>on August 18, 2013, nearly eight months after he was sworn in as the junior senator from Texas, shows that his birth was registered with the Division of Vital Statistics in Edmonton, Alberta, on December 31, 1970.\u00a0 When Ted was three years old his father returned to Texas, leaving his wife and son in Canada.\u00a0 Several months later the parents reunited and the Cruzes moved to Houston.<\/p>\n

In a February 11, 2016, recap in the Dallas Morning News<\/em>, questioning whether Cruz is eligible to serve as president of the United States, campaign spokeswoman Catherine Frazier attempted to put the best possible face on the issue.\u00a0 Ignoring the existence of his Canadian birth certificate, Frazier said, \u201cSenator 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.\u00a0 To our knowledge, he never had Canadian citizenship.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Ms. Frazier\u2019s statement is at odds with Canadian law.\u00a0 When contacted by Dallas<\/em> Morning News<\/em> reporter Todd Gillman, spokeswoman Julie LaFortune, of the Canadian Ministry of Health, said, \u201cGenerally speaking, under the Citizenship Act of 1947, those born in Canada were automatically (Canadian) citizens at birth\u2026 unless their parent was a foreign diplomat.\u201d<\/p>\n

So it is clear that, in spite of official \u201cspin\u201d from the Cruz campaign, Ted Cruz was born with Canadian citizenship\u2026 which he officially renounced in 2014 when his presidential ambitions reached critical mass.\u00a0 In spite of being a learned lawyer, Cruz apparently felt that he could, at age 43, miraculously acquire status as a \u201cnatural born\u201d U.S. citizen.\u00a0 It apparently did not occur to him, or to his legal advisors, that it is no more possible for one to gain \u201cnatural born\u201d status at any time beyond the instant of birth than it is for a mother of three to regain her virginity later in life.\u00a0 Either we are \u201cnatural born\u201d citizens at birth, or we are not.\u00a0 It cannot be acquired at a later date in the same manner that one would become a \u201cnaturalized\u201d citizen.<\/p>\n

What is not clear is whether Ted Cruz has ever acquired U.S. citizenship.\u00a0 Spokeswoman Frazier insisted that, shortly after his birth, Cruz\u2019s mother registered his birth with the U.S. Consulate in Calgary, and that he was granted a U.S. passport in 1986, at age fifteen.\u00a0 If true, it would tend to confirm that Cruz\u2019s birth was, in fact, registered with the U.S. Consulate in Canada and that he was recognized as a U.S. citizen at birth.\u00a0 However, to register a birth at a U.S. Consulate in a foreign country is not quite as simple as Ms. Frazier makes it sound.<\/p>\n

According to the U.S. State Department, Bureau of Consular Affairs, the U.S. citizen parent(s) of a child born on foreign soil must obtain a Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA, Form FS-240) at some time prior to the child\u2019s eighteenth birthday if the parent desires to pass on their U.S. citizenship to their offspring.\u00a0 Published rules of the Bureau read as follows:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you determine that the child born abroad qualifies for U.S. citizenship, please follow the instructions below in order to complete the required forms, prepare the necessary documents, and make an appointment at the U.S. Consulate General in Montreal.\u00a0 All applicants will need to provide the following forms and documents:\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n