As good a guy as Senator Cruz is and as staunch a conservative, he’s still a politician and by not clarifying whether he was calling himself a natural born citizen or a naturalized citizen, he kind of “weasel worded” his way around the key issue. There will be plenty of opportunities to follow-up with him and clarify exactly what he was saying. Senator Cruz can certainly take the initiative and state categorically that he does NOT consider himself to be eligible. Thus far he hasn’t done that. As I read the article, he certainly left the impression that he considers himself to be a natural born citizen but he has no interest in running for that office at this time.
There are two categories of U.S. citizens: (1) Citizen of the United States At Birth; and (2) Naturalized United States Citizen.
Since Naturalized United States Citizens are barred from eligibility to be President or Vice President, the terms “Natural Born Citizen” and “Citizen of the United States at Birth” have the same requirements.
“the terms ‘Natural Born Citizen’ and ‘Citizen of the United States at Birth’ have the same requirements.”
A naturalized citizen may be a citizen at birth, your assertion is incorrect.
Congressional power vis-a-vis citizenship extends to naturalization only, any citizen whose citizenship is dependent on statute is a naturalized citizen.
Derivative citizenship, the situation where a person born abroad acquires U.S. citizenship through their parents, is naturalization.