Sen. Ted Cruz renounces Canadian citizenship

[RedMileDJ]

nm

[ken0042]

I have no issue with a political leader of another country pledging full allegance to that country.

[undercoverbrother]

Total much to do about nothing.

[burn_this_city]

I'm sure the Tea Party will embrace him regardless of the fact they wanted to use the nearly the same circumstances to void the eligibility of the current President.

[chemgear]

At least he probably won't cost us as a "Canadian of convenience".

[Puppet Guy]

He left when he was four and hasn't lived here in almost 40 years. It's a non-issue.

...but it could prove interesting down the road:

Article 2, Section 1, Clause 5 of the U.S. Constitution states that "No person except a natural born Citizen" is eligible to be president. But Cruz's office has long maintained that because his mother was an American, Cruz became a U.S. citizen at birth.
President Barack Obama, who was born to an American mother and Kenyan father, faced sharp criticism from some conservatives who claimed he wasn't an American citizen. In 2011, Obama released a copy of his birth certificate confirming his birth in Hawaii.
Cruz is a favourite of many of the same conservative groups who raised "birther" concerns about Obama, however, and questions about his eligibility to become president because he was born in Canada have not caused as much of a stir — at least not yet.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2...p.html?cmp=rss

[ken0042]

One other interesting thing I read:
Only native-born U.S. citizens (or those born abroad, but only to parents who were both citizens of the U.S.) may be president of the United States

If his father was not American, that could be an issue for him right there.

[Rathji]

I thought that to be an American citizen you needed to renounce all other citizenship?

So how has he managed all these years, or do I have it confused?

[Senator Clay Davis]

The most hilarious part of this is Ted Cruz, his financial backers or his supporters, actually think he can be President in 2016, which is why this is an issue. He's the male version of Michele Bachmann, though no word on whether his spouse is obviously gay like Michele's is.

[Mango]

The SNL skit for this should be pretty good

[FlamesAddiction]

I always thought it was weird that you have to be a U.S. citizen at birth to become president. Like where you first pop out will affect how well you can run a country as an adult.

Is there any good reason why they hold onto this tradition?

[Regulator75]

Who?

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Rathji

I thought that to be an American citizen you needed to renounce all other citizenship?

So how has he managed all these years, or do I have it confused?

I'm not sure what the rules are for different situations, but I am a dual citizen of Canada and the US. I was born in the US to Canadian parents and as such was given Canadian citizenship upon entry to Canada when I was 4 or 5. I would assume it can go the other way.

[Parallex]

That he is renouncing his citizenship means nothing to me... I will however find the response by "birther" groups interesting should he decide to pursue presidential ambitions. It'll be interesting to see how many of them expose themselves as rank hypocrits.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by MattyC

I'm not sure what the rules are for different situations, but I am a dual citizen of Canada and the US. I was born in the US to Canadian parents and as such was given Canadian citizenship upon entry to Canada when I was 4 or 5. I would assume it can go the other way.

I don't think the U.S. recognizes dual citizenship anymore. A girl I work with has dual citizenship in Canada, but she was told that if she lived in the U.S. and wanted the benefits of citizenship, that she would have to renounce her Canadian citizenship there.

Unless she has her information wrong or I am misunderstanding.

[calumniate]

I heard he's half Cuban.. get him!!

[Street Pharmacist]

I'm fine with it. The guy is a class A #######.

[Bunk]

Can we in turn renounce Ted Cruz as ever having been Canadian and Calgarian?

[getbak]

Originally Posted by ken0042

One other interesting thing I read:
Only native-born U.S. citizens (or those born abroad, but only to parents who were both citizens of the U.S.) may be president of the United States

If his father was not American, that could be an issue for him right there.

The Constitution only states that the President must be a natural born citizen. His mother being born and raised in the US and moving to Canada as an adult would be enough for him to be considered a natural-born US Citizen (this is also why all the "birther" stuff was so stupid around Obama, even if he had been born in Africa, he was still a US Citizen because of his mother's citizenship).

Originally Posted by US Consitution

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

From what I understand if you gain US citizenship you must renounce your previous citizenship.

However what's interesting, and is the case here, is what happens when there is no previous citizenship?

Cruz wasn't a Canadian first. He was born an American, as his parent was American. However, he was born Canadian as he was born in Canada.

The underlying issue is a baby doesn't have capacity to renounce citizenship, and the logistics to keep track of the small percentage of people that fall into this exception wouldn't be cost effective to monitor. So really it isn't a problem until you try and run for president, despite being born on US soil or to two US citizens is a foolish rule.