Is someone who was born in Canada to parents who are U.S. Citizens

[Upthevibe]

eligible to run for President here in the U.S.? We're watching Rachel (delayed) interview Sean Patrick Maloney (who's a Representative from New York and who worked in The Clinton Administration) and we like him. I googled it but it looked kind of complicated....

[herding cats]

1. If your parents are US citizens then so are you.

Place of birth is irrelevant. It’s up to the parents to report the birth to the nearest US Consulate, though. Then they have to file the appropriate paperwork.

[DFW]

15. I did it twice. Just call the embassy, find out what you need to bring, and go there.

Bureaucracy being what it is (and has become), it's probably five times as complicated as it was when I did it, but both my daughters were born in Germany. I just called the U.S. Embassy, asked what I needed to bring in the way of paperwork, got it together, went to the embassy, and walked out with my new daughter's passport, social security number, and birth certificate ("of an American citizen abroad&quot . I was in and out of there within an hour. My wife is a German citizen, but since I am an American citizen, my daughters were automatically American citizens, too, as long as I did the proper paperwork right after birth. Since their mother is German, they are German citizens as well, which they very much appreciate, since they can live and work in either place.

[Brother Buzz]

2. Um, Ted Cruz was born in Canada, and....

his mother was a US citizen, and he was eligible to run for president.

[Yavin4]

4. Wrong.

Cruz was hatched from the bowels of hell. BTW, where is he? Trump stole his crazy spotlight.

[Brother Buzz]

5. LOL, that's certainly a possibility I can entertain

The old Ted Cruz is back
BY ANDREA DRUSCH

February 07, 2018 05:21 PM

Updated 11 hours 58 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a past and perhaps future presidential contender, spent the past year proving he can work well with Republican colleagues he’s butted heads with in the past.

Now less than a month out from Texas’s primary, where Cruz faces little serious opposition, that cooperation appears to be dissipating as he pushes his party toward a tough conservative agenda in Washington.

Cruz boasted Wednesday to a Texas audience that he rallied conservatives in the Senate to repeal Obamacare’s individual mandate in their tax bill, against the will of party leaders, who feared it could sink tax reform, their bigger policy priority. He’s also pushing his party to revisit efforts to repeal Obamacare this year, even though GOP leaders have moved on to other projects they believe will garner Democratic support in a chamber that’s been paralyzed by partisanship.

Speaking to members of the Texas Water Conservation Association in Washington, Cruz, who famously led a 2013 government shutdown over Obamacare, channeled his old self.

<more>

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article198937489.html

[Upthevibe]

7. Yes...I forgot about that...

....thanks for the feedback...

[Yupster]

9. I don't think Cruz was eligible to run

I think this should be well spelled out and each candidate should have to submit their paperwork to some court or committee to be officially declared eligible to run.

Better to set the rules our while there's not a current controversy. There will be one eventually.

[sarah FAILIN]

17. But Obama was not eligible.

According to them at least. Yes I do know he was born here, just pointing out their hypocrisy that if Obama had been born in Kenya to an American mom, he was not as American as Cruz who was born in Canada to an American mom.

[unblock]

28. Just another reason why the media coverage of that issue was so atrocious

Even the “birthers” never denied his mother was a u.s. citizen. So therefore he was, even if he had been born in Kenya.

The whole point of the “scandal” was purely to point out that he was black and the media happily went along my with a completely racist story.

[fishwax]

46. the rules were slightly different when Obama was born, and that was part of the "issue"

I put issue in quotes, of course, because it was only an issue to racist conspiracy theorists.

That said, part of their argument included the fact that between 1952 and 1986 (Obama was born in 1961) the law stipulated that for children born outside the US, in order to pass citizenship to the child at birth, the citizen parent had to have lived for ten years in the US/US territory and that at least five of those years had to come after their 14th birthday. Since Obama's mom was only 18 when he was born, she hadn't lived five years after her 14th birthday in the U.S.

Again, didn't matter because he was born in Hawaii, but the racists didn't want to believe that.

[LiberalFighter]

38. His parents voted in Canadian election.

Canadians can't have dual citizenship. Therefore Cruz is Canadian.

[Mariana]

40. Canadians can't have dual citizenship? How do you figure that?

Canada may not recognize dual citizenship, but it can't revoke anyone's citizenship in any other country. If Canada says a person is a Canadian citizen, and the US says that person is a US citizen, then that person is a citizen of both countries.

[Nay]

53. I have dual US/Canadian citizenships, so you are wrong. nt

[OhioBlue]

3. yes. McCain was born in Panama

[Upthevibe]

8. I knew something had happened about McCain but a friend was

saying something like if the parents are in the military that's an exception so that's when I hopped on here b/c I knew you guys would know..Thanks!

[Yupster]

10. I make exceptions for people like McCain

If your mom is the ambassador to Togo and you are born in the local Togoan (?) hospital, I'm willing to say you are a natural born citizen because your parents were representing the country abroad.

That's not the case fo Cruz though. His parents were just plain living in Canada.

[Adrahil]

30. So?

I’m sorry, where you are at the time should have no bearing on you citizenship, and if you are born a citizen, you are a natural born citizen. This is just crazy.

[clementine613]

37. But it does matter...

... if your parents aren't already citizens.

[Adrahil]

48. Yes, but if they are, then WHERE you are is of no importance. NT

[clementine613]

49. No, it's of extreme importance.

If your parents are not US citizens and you are born in the US, you are a US Citizen.
If your parents are not US citizens and you are born outside the US, you are not.

[Adrahil]

50. Am I mumbling?

If you have a parent that is a U.S. citizen, you are a U.S. citizen AT BIRTH, NO MATTER WHERE THE BIRTH OCCURS! You are a Natural Born Citizen.

Why is this hard to follow?

[customerserviceguy]

54. It's something that has never been fully litigated in the courts

Something that Thomas Jefferson had written into the Constitution to screw with Alexander Hamilton's head a couple of centuries ago, and we're still debating what it means.

[Adrahil]

55. I think it's freaking ridiculous. NT

[customerserviceguy]

56. Laws are the product of their times

In this case, Jefferson really wanted to create a restriction that impacted one particular person, and he was able to play on the fears of the other Founding Fathers who were afraid that their new nation would be creating a legal system that could be taken over from within. If you imagine them shaking their heads in disbelief over "President Trump", then you can imagine that they wanted to block from the office of the Presidency anyone that they could foresee as being trouble in the future.

Had they been prescient enough to see our country today, they might have included a clause that says that you either have to have military or public office experience as a qualification for the office of president. If they had made that as elected public office experience, it would have precluded Herbert Hoover from attaining that office when he did.

[LiberalFighter]

39. They weren't just living there.

They were also voting in Canada. Only Canadians can vote in Canada.

[tammywammy]

42. Theres no proof that his mother became a Canadian citizen.

[Adrahil]

51. Not arguing about Ted here....

If his parents denounced their citizenship, that's another issue.

I'm talking about the child of at least one unambiguous U.S. Citizen who was born abroad.

[sarah FAILIN]

18. There is a written exemption for his case

It wasn't written for him specifically but covered his situation of being born on a military base.

[dawg day]

29. It has generally been accepted that the children of military

serving overseas (as McCain's father was) are citizens of the US from birth, as of course they should be. (My nephew iis in this situation.) We shouldn't penalize our young military families because they're serving in the military.


McCain is different from Cruz (who was indeed allowed to run for president anyway), because Cruz had only one US Citizen parent who was not serving in the military, and he was born not in a military situation (McCain was born in the Canal Zone, which was protected by the US Military), but in another country and was a citizen of that country.

Cruz actually didn't qualify under most logical explanations, but he didn't get very far, so shrug. Alas, the GOP is capable of choosing citizens who embody the worst of humanity, however they want to define "citizens."

[marybourg]

32. That is different. It is clearly spelled out in U.S law

that a child born abroad to a military member stationed there, as was John McCain, is a U.S. citizen.

I don't think Cruz qualified as a natural-born U.S. citizen, however, and I therefore don't believe he was eligible to be inaugurated if he had won the election. But this needs to be adjudicated , now, while it's not an immediate issue, as the poster above stated. That's what we supposedly have a Congress for.

[struggle4progress]

6. The Constitution requires the President be "a natural born Citizen, or

a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution"

What this means, may depend on who you ask

For example, a number of Republicans thought this prevented Barack Obama from becoming President legitimately: some because he was not "a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution" in 1789; others because he was born in the Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital, and they do not believe the founders intended for "natural born" to refer to anyone born in a hospital

[Upthevibe]

11. I don't understand what you mean about

Republicans saying being born in a hospital isn't "natural born?" And, who has run for President that was a Citizen of the U.S. .....in 1789?" We weren't alive then...what am I missing...?

[Yupster]

14. When I was a history teacher, I always thought

a natural born citizen was a person born in the United States and therefore born a citizen.

The Constitution addresses the part about the early Americans. It says a person who was a citizen in 1789 is eligible to run.

Obviously I had the first part wrong as Ted Cruz ran and no one gave him any particular trouble over it.

I really think this should be clarified now, while there is no immediate controversy. Cruz said a natural born citizen is a person born a citizen which would be anyone in the world who has a mom or dad who is a citizen.

[Mariana]

31. Lots of people born outside the US are citizens at birth.

We have natural born citizens and naturalized citizens. There isn't any third category.

[sarah FAILIN]

20. Their argument is not really the hospital

It was in the way Hawaii registers foreign births to their residents.

[struggle4progress]

21. .

[Mariana]

24. But the birth records say where the birth took place.

They never provided any scrap of evidence that Hawaii registers foreign births to residents that say those people were born in Hawaii. Obama's BC says he was born in Hawaii. Anyway, Hawaii isn't unique in this. My state records foreign births to residents, too.

Anyway, those dumbasses argued about everything, including the hospital. All of it was stupid and easily resolved with a few minutes of research, which clearly none of them are capable of doing.

[sarah FAILIN]

25. I don't want to feel dirty and gross looking it up, but

Their argument was something about the difference in a birth certificate and a "certificate of live birth" or "colb".
I argued with those idiots till I was blue in the face, but you could not reason with them. They were sure of what they were claiming. Of course IOKIYAR so Cruz was just fine since his mother was American.
Yes, I know Obama's mom was also American, but they can't be confused by facts. They were all crazy

[Mariana]

26. As I said, their arguments were stupid and easily debunked.

Including the idiotic idea that a state issued certified copy of a birth record isn't valid if it doesn't have the words "Birth Certificate" on the top.

[sarah FAILIN]

27. Agreed

I argued on a local site, but quit eventually. When they were all praising Cruz I went back and asked what's up with that? Crickets.

[Mariana]

43. That was the dumbest argument ever, I swear.

Someone told me, "In Texas, you can't get a driver's license with one of those! You need a real Birth Certificate!" Well, my kid was born in Texas, and the state provided me with a "Certification of Vital Record" that has less information on it than Obama's certificate - it doesn't even name the city she was born in, only the county. This imbecile tried to tell me that the State of Texas won't accept this certified document issued by the state of Texas. How stupid is that?

[Hekate]

12. If one or both parents are US citizens, then so is the child. John McCain was born in Panama

Ted Cruz -- whatever.

Even if the "birther" stories about Obama had been true and his young Mom had somehow snuck off to Kenya to give birth to him, Barack Hussein Obama would STILL be a US citizen.

It only seems to become an issue if the candidate in question is not white.

[RB TexLa]

13. Honestly it has never been answered

The electoral collage would have to elect someone president who's citizenship falls under this to get the Supreme Court to rule on what a "natural born" citizen is.

The constitution does not define it. We seem to go by the definition of citizenship by birth, the court may or may not agree.

[DFW]

16. Depends who is on the court, I guess

Get enough Republican-appointed nut cases on there, and anyone born by Caesarean section can be declared to not be "natural-born."

My daughters' birth certificates both say "birth of an American citizen abroad." Is that natural-born, or do Republicans claim that people born outside of US territory are all laboratory-grown?

[Pathwalker]

19. Ask Jennifer Granholm, former Governor of Michigan.

She felt it made her ineligible.

[tammywammy]

22. Jennifer Granholm is a naturalized citizen.

She was born in Canada and both parents were Canadian.

[Wounded Bear]

34. Nauralized citizens are not elible...

Naturalized and naturally born are not the same thing.

[tammywammy]

36. Yes.

I was replying to someone that didn’t seem to make that distinction regarding why Jennifer Granholm is ineligible.

[Mariana]

23. Yes, because they acquired citizenship at birth.

We have only two types of citizens, natural born and naturalized. Those who were citizens from birth are eligible to be president regardless of place of birth. Those who became citizens through naturalization are not eligible. It really is that simple.

Just to make something clear, citizens from birth are citizens from birth. It doesn't matter at all if the parents didn't report the birth to an Embassy or Consulate. Parents do that to get documents that prove their child's citizenship, not to obtain the citizenship itself.

[treestar]

33. So long as one parent had a residence in the U.S. before he was born:

U.S. Code › Title 8 › Chapter 12 › Subchapter III › Part I › § 1401
8 U.S. Code § 1401 - Nationals and citizens of United States at birth
US Code
Notes
Authorities (CFR)
prev | next
The following shall be nationals and citizens of the United States at birth:
(a) a person born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof;
(b) a person born in the United States to a member of an Indian, Eskimo, Aleutian, or other aboriginal tribe: Provided, That the granting of citizenship under this subsection shall not in any manner impair or otherwise affect the right of such person to tribal or other property;
(c) a person born outside of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents both of whom are citizens of the United States and one of whom has had a residence in the United States or one of its outlying possessions, prior to the birth of such person;

[Wounded Bear]

35. Wouldn't (c) invalidate Cruz?

I thought his father was Mexican or something and only his Mother is American. If he was born in Canada, I think that would make him ineligible.

[Mariana]

44. I think he's eligible via one of the other provisions.

He's a US citizen and he wasn't naturalized.

[treestar]

47. This section wouldn't help him, but other sections would

(g) a person born outside the geographical limits of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien, and the other a citizen of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, was physically present in the United States or its outlying possessions for a period or periods totaling not less than five years, at least two of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years: Provided, That any periods of honorable service in the Armed Forces of the United States, or periods of employment with the United States Government or with an international organization as that term is defined in section 288 of title 22 by such citizen parent, or any periods during which such citizen parent is physically present a

So Mama Cruz has to prove she lived in the United States or its outlying possession for at least 5 years, at least 2 of which were after age 14 (so as to mean you are familiar with the U.S. I think - if they were from age 0-5 you wouldn't remember it, so they require two years past an age where you remember).

[hack89]

41. Yes. Nt

[fishwax]

45. In most cases yes, but it depends

It isn't the case that any child born to a U.S. Citizen anywhere in the world is automatically a citizen. If the child is born in wedlock, and both parents are citizens, then the child is a citizen.

If only one parent is a citizen, then a child born in wedlock is a citizen as long as that parent meets certain residency requirements. Currently, that means the parent must have been in the U.S. (or outlying territories) for at least five years of their life before the birth of the child, and at least two of those years must have been after the parent's 14th birthday. So, for instance, if a person was born in the U.S. but moved out of the country at 15, never came back, and had a child that child would not be a U.S. citizen because the parent would not have met the residency requirements.

Additionally, the residency requirements have changed over the years. From 1952 to 1986, the requirement was 10 years in the US (including outlying possessions) with at least 5 of those after the age of 14. This, incidentally, was one of the desperate details to which the racist birther movements clung, since Obama's mother was not yet 19 when he was born, meaning that she had not lived 5 years in the US after her 14th birthday. Of course, that didn't matter since he was born in Hawaii, but, you know, delusional racists gonna be delusionally racist.

[Orange Free State]

52. I remember some mild murmuring in 68 about George Romney

Being born in Mexico, at one of the Mormon colonies. Apparently his parents were both US citizens so it did not matter. But there were some whisperings as to why they went to Mexico in the first place......