Ted Cruz is a Naturalized Citizen, not "Natural Born"

Farmer John

[Joachim]

Ted Cruz is a Naturalized Citizen, not "Natural Born"

by Farmer John

The question of who qualifies as a "natural born citizen" may be close in some cases, but the case of Ted Cruz is easy. Constitutionally speaking, Cruz is a naturalized citizen, not "natural born."

Regarding citizenship, the Constitution grants Congress power over a uniform rule of naturalization, not over citizenship generally. Any citizen whose citizenship is derived from an act of Congress is thus a naturalized citizen, constitutionally speaking, and thus not "natural born." The basic principle is stated in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649, 702-3 (1898):

The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution . . . contemplates two sources of citizenship, and two only: birth and naturalization. . . . Every person born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, becomes at once a citizen of the United States, and needs no naturalization. A person born out of the jurisdiction of the United States can only become a citizen by being naturalized, either by treaty, as in the case of the annexation of foreign territory, or by authority of Congress, exercised either by declaring certain classes of persons to be citizens, as in the enactments conferring citizenship upon foreign-born children of citizens, or by enabling foreigners individually to become citizens by proceedings in the judicial tribunals, as in the ordinary provisions of the naturalization acts.

(Emphasis added.) That this principle still holds was recognized in Rogers v. Bellei, 401 U.S. 815 (1971)— implicitly in the majority opinion of Blackmun, in which Chief Justice Burger, and Justices Harlan, Stewart, and White joined:

[O]ur law in this area follows English concepts with an acceptance of the jus soli, that is, that the place of birth governs citizenship status except as modified by statute [and] the [Supreme] Court has specifically recognized the power of Congress not to grant a United States citizen the right to transmit citizenship by descent.

(pp. 828-30) and explicitly in the dissent of Brennan, joined by Douglas:

Concededly, petitioner [Bellei] was a citizen at birth, not by constitutional right, but only through operation of a federal statute. In the light of the complete lack of rational basis for distinguishing among citizens whose naturalization was carried out within the physical bounds of the United States, and those, like Bellei, who may be naturalized overseas . . . .

(p. 845, emphasis added) as well as in the dissent of Black, with Douglass and Marshall joining:

Congress is empowered by the Constitution to "establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization," Art. I, § 8. Anyone acquiring citizenship solely under the exercise of this power is, constitutionally speaking, a naturalized citizen.

(p. 840, Emphasis added).

The argument that Cruz is "natural born" because he was never naturalized is based on the false premise that Cruz was never naturalized. Cruz was naturalized (presumably at birth) by statute under Congress' power to make a uniform rule of naturalization. And since he (apparently) has no other claim to U.S. citizenship, he cannot be considered a "natural born" citizen.

[ObozoMustGo2012]

[I hope you are prepared to be blasted by Cruz supporters.]

Cue the immature “Anita Trump” comments from VinL.....

[Timber Rattler]

Not Mark Levin. That schmuck goes crazy at you just for posting stories on Donald Trump that aren’t negative.

So Mark Levin, who has been in the trenches fighting tooth and nail for Conservatism before many of us were out of diapers, and has been a long time vocal supporter of this board, is now a "schmuck" just because he refuses to embrace Trump and countenance the Cruz birther nonsense?

Nice.

[ilgipper]

When you produce some sort of document showing he was naturalized later after birth, and not provided a US birth certificate, let’s talk again.

[Nifster]

Try listening to Mark Levin a true constitutional expert rather trying to pretend you are one

[Cboldt]

You can resolve that conundrum by figuring out who would be a citizen if Congress passed no statute on the subject.

[Yashcheritsiy]

Hmmm...

I wonder if Trump has accidentally stumbled onto something here?

Or if he has some advisers who clued in on this?

[Vermont Lt]

Boy, Trump can really get the hornet nest all riled up.

There are lots of people buzzing around, making a lot of noise.

But there isn’t any honey there, so after a while no one cares.

Aren’t there more important things to discuss—rather than settled law.

[Greetings_Puny_Humans]

So Mark Levin, who has been in the trenches

In the trenches now at "Conservative Review" with other Cruz-affiliated employees not even bothering to hide their hatred of Trump and their bias, "in the trenches" now calling Breitbart writers "***-holes" and idiots.

Michael Savage is right about Levin. "He's a fraud!"

[grania]

All this Cruz birther nonsense is a complete and utter embarrassment for FR. You Trumpets ought to be ashamed of yourselves

If it doesn't come out now, the dems will use it, for sure to disqualify Cruz. Hypocrisy? No. They answered (perhaps in ways that should've gotten more scrutiny from the Republican establishment) with proof that Obama WAS born in the US. Not born in the US? That's a giant leap down the slippery slope.

One thing a lot of us who want to Make America Great Again are fed up with is the put down whenever we disagree with the Cruz line.

[Yashcheritsiy]

Hmmm. that’s a good point. I was born in Missouri to two parents who were American citizens, also by birth. I am most definitely a natural born American citizen.

Ted Cruz was born in Canada, only one parent was a US citizen. Big difference here.

[Cboldt]

Ted probably (almost certainly) has a Consular Record of Birth Abroad (also known as an FS-240), recognizing that his birth fit the circumstances laid out in 8 USC 1401(g). Citizen at birth to a child born abroad of one citizen parent, provided the citizen parent meets US residency conditions before the birth occurred.

As a matter of law, this is a recognition of naturalization, but it doesn't go by that label.

[Puzzleman]

Martin Van Buren, our eighth president, was the first to be born in the United States. George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and Andrew Jackson were not born in the United States — mainly because there was no United States when they were born.

[DoodleDawg]

It would be a kick-in-the-ass if we got two front runners, Cruz and Mrs. Bill and both of them get disqualified after, say, Super Tuesday, one by being indicted and arrested, the other by the Court for not being a Natural Born.

While I hold out hope for the first one I don't see the second one happening. Not by Super Tuesday. Not ever.

[Yashcheritsiy]

One thing a lot of us who want to Make America Great Again are fed up with is the put down whenever we disagree with the Cruz line.

Keep in mind, too, that if we're going to "make America great again" (looking at it from an under the sun perspective), a good place to start would be having a candidate who is actually constitutionally qualified. All the rest of that "constitution talk" sort of rings hollow if we can't even get that right.

[taxcontrol]

The author fails in his second sentence. All actions of the US government are governed by laws. Those laws laws come from acts of Congress. Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution enumerate Congress with the “Rules of Naturalization”.

The scope of those rules are not limited. The rules include who needs to be naturalized and the rules include who does not need to be naturalized.

The current expression of those rules are listed in Title 8 section 1401. Even those citizens who are born in the US are citizens at birth (Naturally born as citizens) are defined by that law.

[DoodleDawg]

What do you farm, Farmer John?

Birther conspiracy sites on the internet, based on this thread.

[Happy Rain]

“The whole thing with Cruz and how he’s brilliantly, by the way, dealing with these SILLY ALLEGATIONS that he’s not eligible on citizenship grounds. He’s really, really dealing with it smartly, brilliantly, I might say. The whole thing, it’s silly, it’s a distraction. But it is ILLUSTRATIVE of who’s aligned WHERE and with WHOM.
-Rush Limbaugh 1/8/16

So anti conservative Trumpkins hate on the Great One Mark Levin because he was right that Trump shouldn’t behave like a Left Wing Nutjob and troll Cruz with this ridiculous birther crap.
Now they can hate on Rush.

[Yosemitest]

FACT: Cruz’s father’s Cuban nationality at the time of Cruz’s birth, is irrelevant, according to the law at that time,
just so long as he was a LEGAL Immigrant at the time of Ted Cruz's birth,
AND both of Ted Cruz's parents were legally married to each other.

What are the rules for people born between December 23, 1952 and November 13, 1986?

The 14th Amendment IS a part of the U.S. Constitution and states in SECTION 5.
The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
So, under that power to legislate, Congress legislated and the President signed into law:
When ONE parent was a US citizen and the other a foreign national,
the US citizen parent must have resided in the US for a total of 10 years prior to the birth of the child,
with five of the years after the age of 14.

... While there were initially rules regarding what the child must do to retain citizenship,
amendments since 1952 HAVE ELIMINATED THESE REQUIREMENTS.

When Ted Cruz was born, his parents were "IN WEDLOCK".

They married, moved to Calgary, Alberta, and in late 1970 had their first and only child, Rafael Edward Cruz.
Cruz was born on December 22, 1970 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada where his parents, Eleanor Elizabeth Darragh Wilson and Rafael Bienvenido Cruz.

Cruz's mother was born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware, in a family of three quarters Irish and one quarter Italian descent.
Eleanor Darragh, mother of Ted Cruz, was raised in Delaware, graduated from a Catholic High School (1952) in the U.S., as well as Rice University (1956),
so clearly she meets the residency requirements.

Source

In 1957, Rafael Bienvenido Cruz (Ted Cruz's father) decided to get out of Cuba by applying to the University of Texas.
Upon being admitted, he adds, he got a four-year student visa at the U.S. Consulate in Havana.

"Since he liked to eat seven days a week, he worked seven days a week, and he paid his way through the University of Texas," Ted Cruz says of his father, "and then ended up getting a job and eventually going on to start a small business and to work towards the American dream."

Only he did that in Canada, where Ted was born.
His father went there after having earlier obtained political asylum in the U.S. when his student visa ran out.
He then got a green card, he says, and married Ted's mother, an American citizen.
The two of them moved to Canada to work in the oil industry.

"I worked in Canada for eight years," Rafael Cruz says. "And while I was in Canada, I became a Canadian citizen."

The elder Cruz says he renounced his Canadian citizenship when he finally became a U.S. citizen in 2005 —
48 years after leaving Cuba.
Why did he take so long to do it?
"I don't know. I guess laziness, or — I don't know," he says.

So there is the law for the time Ted Cruz was born,
AND HOW Ted Cruz's PARENTS fulfilled ALL those requirements of the law that time, for Ted Cruz to be a "Natural Born Citizen".
Ted Cruz did NOT NEED a Court and a Judge to "Nationalize" him.

“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.
... 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.

One more thing, listen to a REAL CONSTITUTIONAL LAWYER:

MARK LEVIN explains that Ted Cruz IS a natural born citizen ( 7:30 )
Published on Sep 17, 2013

[Greetings_Puny_Humans]

They were grandfathered in according to that same clause:

"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"

[euram]

All I know is that my daughter has a Certificate of Naturalization, whether there is a Consular Record of Birth Abroad, I don’t know, and never even thought about that.