“And the Constitutional laws Congress has enacted make Cruz eligible to be president.”
That is a false statement. Ted Cruz acquired his U.S. citizenship by relying upon the purported U.S. citizenship of his mother. This form of naturalization at birth of a child born abroad with an alien father and a U.S. citizen mother was under the authority of the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952. Persons acquiring U.S. citizenship by statutory act are by definition naturalized U.S. citizens, and they are not and cannot possibly be natural born citizens that do not acquire citizenship by statutory acts.
“This form of naturalization at birth of a child born abroad with an alien father and a U.S. citizen mother was under the authority of the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952. Persons acquiring U.S. citizenship by statutory act are by definition naturalized U.S. citizens, and they are not and cannot possibly be natural born citizens that do not acquire citizenship by statutory acts.”
I have not seen one shred of evidence that a person can be automatically “naturalized” at birth. If citizenship is conferred at birth, then the child is a natural born citizen.
The Constitution itself is the supreme law of the land. Do you propose that the Constitution grants natural born citizenship? Do you propose that citizenship itself exists in nature and is not a legal construct?
I have heard your argument before, but it fails to explain how the same men who ratified the Constitution in 1788, enacted the first law of naturalization in 1790 (18 months later) and in it specified exactly who would be a “natural born citizen”. Your position would essentially mean this part of the act is unconstitutional. That’s a hard pill to swallow. Here is what it said:
United States Naturalization Law of March 26, 1790
Titled: “An act to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization”
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That any Alien being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a citizen thereof on application to any common law Court of record in any one of the States wherein he shall have resided for the term of one year at least, and making proof to the satisfaction of such Court that he is a person of good character, and taking the oath or affirmation prescribed by law to support the Constitution of the United States, which Oath or Affirmation such Court shall administer, and the Clerk of such Court shall record such Application, and the proceedings thereon; and thereupon such person shall be considered as a Citizen of the United States. And the children of such person so naturalized, dwelling within the United States, being under the age of twenty one years at the time of such naturalization, shall also be considered as citizens of the United States. And the children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond Sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born Citizens : Provided, that the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States: Provided also, that no person heretofore proscribed by any States, shall be admitted a citizen as aforesaid, except by an Act of the Legislature of the State in which such person was proscribed.
The plainest, simplest, most consistent definition of natural born citizen is a person who receives citizenship at birth. This may be either through being born in the land or being born to a parent who is a citizen, according to the applicable law of naturalization enacted by Congress which is within its Constitutional purview. Being a natural born citizen means he or she does not have to go through a process called “naturalization” in order to become a citizen. Every other definition and explanation I have seen requires logical backflips to reach some predetermined conclusion.