Ted Cruz To Renounce Canadian Citizeship

Cruz Birth Certificate

Just days after the release of his Canadian birth certificate, Ted Cruz has announced his Canadian citizenship:

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) announced Monday evening that he will renounce his Canadian citizenship, less than 24 hours after a newspaper pointed out that the Canadian-born senator likely maintains dual citizenship.

“Now the Dallas Morning News says that I may technically have dual citizenship,” Cruz said in a statement. “Assuming that is true, then sure, I will renounce any Canadian citizenship. Nothing against Canada, but I’m an American by birth and as a U.S. senator; I believe I should be only an American.”

The Dallas Morning News wrote in a story posted late Sunday night that Cruz likely remains a Canadian citizen, by virtue of being born there to an American mother. Having never renounced that citizenship, Cruz was technically a Canadian and an American citizen, according to legal experts.

Cruz said his mother told him that he could claim his citizenship if he ever wanted to, but that he never pursued it and thought the matter was settled.

Legal experts say that Cruz is a Canadian citizen regardless of whether he asked for it or not.

“Because I was a U.S. citizen at birth, because I left Calgary when I was 4 and have lived my entire life since then in the U.S., and because I have never taken affirmative steps to claim Canadian citizenship, I assumed that was the end of the matter,” Cruz said.

This isn’t entirely surprising, of course. A politician with dual citizenship is a bit of an oddity, after all. No word, though, on whether renounces Canadian citizenship includes promising never to listen to Celine Dion again.

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Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. DC Loser says:

    Cruz is no dummy. He knew all this time he was a Canadian citizen. He wanted to keep that option open to him, and was forced to this act of public renouncement because the truth finally was exposed. I’m sure the Birthers are going to go after Obama to see if he’s renounced his Kenyan citizenship.

  2. John Peabody says:

    Well, good luck, eh.

  3. DC Loser says:
  4. C. Clavin says:

    Canada is just a little less crazy this morning than it was yesterday morning.
    I don’t give a damn about Cruz’s citizenship…but what a fvcking phony, Rafael is.

  5. James Pearce says:

    “This,” said God, “is what I meant by ‘You reap what you sow.'”

  6. stonetools says:

    @James Pearce:

    “This,” said God, “is what I meant by ‘You reap what you sow.’”

    Amen . My schadenfreude levels are rising to post-2012 election levels over this.
    I look forward to earnest Republican primary discussions about whether Senor Rafael Eduardo Cruz is a natural born American citizen and why it took him all these years before he “renounced allegiance” to a “foreign power.”

  7. george says:

    @C. Clavin:

    Canada is just a little less crazy this morning than it was yesterday morning.

    Just a little though. Hopes were high that he’d take Justin Bieber and Celine Dionne with him …

  8. pylon says:

    As a Canadian I acknowledge my country is foriegn. I don’t know about “power”.

  9. PJ says:

    I want to see DNA evidence that he really is who he says he is.

    Pierre Trudeau and Fidel Castro were friends up and until Trudeau’s death. I want proof that Trudeau didn’t help Castro to smuggle his son to Canada so that one day Cruz (Cruz and Castro both begins with a C, Ted and Trudeau both beings with a T. I doubt that’s a coincidence…) would become the President of the United States.

    Any sons of Fidel Castro should not be allowed to run for President.

    DNA test him now!

  10. PJ says:

    OT, but is editing of comments back to stay? If so, hooray!

  11. pylon says:

    I don’t know that it’s that unusual to have dual citizenship and be in politics. Lots of times it’s just a fuinction of the citizenship laws of a particular country (as it is with Cruz – Canadian law says he’s automaticaly a citizen). Bachmann was dual. A whole slew of people in politics have had dual US-Israeli citizenship.

    Frankly it’s dumb that it’s even an issue. No one questions what country has Cruz’ loyalty. Nor should they have questioned Obama’s.

  12. al-Ameda says:

    Canada just upgraded quite a bit.
    Congratulations to all Canadians.

  13. edmondo says:

    Poor Ted Cruz is so confused. Most of the country would have voted for a Canadian for president long before we’ll vote for another Texan

  14. pylon says:

    PJ – they probably consipred to send him to the most conservative city in Canada, where “Trudeau” was a dirty word.

  15. John H says:

    @PJ:

    Since the cat is out of the bag, I can confirm that it wasn’t Trudeau and Castro. It was the Windsors. We really didn’t think you’d be this upset, since you seemed to like Her Majesty and Diana so much.

    Ted – remember to return those Flames tickets before you leave.

  16. PJ says:

    @pylon:
    Where better to hide the secret spawn of Fidel Castro than in Canada’s most conservative city?

  17. JohnMcC says:

    Just a note to remind the class — this ‘oops, I guess I’m a Canadian’ comes from a gentleman who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law.

  18. pylon says:

    I wonder (actually I don’t – I know) what health care regime paid for his delivery.

  19. C. Clavin says:

    @ George…
    Fine…but we are keeping Neil Young.
    And we want an option on the Tragically Hip.

  20. PJ says:

    @JohnMcC:

    …a gentleman who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law.

    It’s obvious to right wing nut logic that the only reason he did is due to Affirmative Action and the fact that he’s not Caucasian.

  21. DC Loser says:

    At least Calgary ‘s got Feist.

  22. DC Loser says:

    Cruz graduated Maga Cum Laude from Harvard Law.

  23. James in Silverdale, WA says:

    The certificate is an utter forgery. Lines, pixelation, landmarks from the mimeograph machine…. but mostly because I said so.

    (Yes, I said “mimeograph”).

  24. Caj says:

    I shouldn’t bother if I were you Mr Cruz. You will never be President of the United States. Bless your heart for thinking you could be! Leave that job to someone who is qualified and actually has a clue. That being Hillary Clinton.

  25. al-Ameda says:

    We can learn something from Canada: We Americans now have a road map for progress and improvement – convince the Republican House Delegation to renounce their American citizenship.

  26. Caj says:

    @DC Loser:

    Just goes to show that they will let even radical nut jobs like Cruz in!! Doesn’t say much for Harvard!!

  27. DC Loser says:

    @Caj,

    Fidel obviously pulled a few strings with his fellow traveler friends on the Harvard faculty to get Tail Gunner Cruz in.

  28. C. Clavin says:

    Looks like Canada is stuck with Rafael for 8 more months…maybe it’s a waiting period…before he can abort his citizenship.

  29. C. Clavin says:

    Every Canuck is precious.

  30. fred says:

    Anyone who believes this opportunist did not know all these years that he had dual citizenship is a bigger fool than Cruz himself. He relied on his US citizenship to use Affirmative Action to get into Harvard U too.

  31. C. Clavin says:

    @ Fred…

    “…He relied on his US citizenship to use Affirmative Action to get into Harvard U too…”

    Got a link for that?