How Is Ted Cruz "Natural Born" When Senator Hirono Is "Naturalized"? Both Born In Under Same Circumstances

Senator Mazi Hirono (D)

The junior U.S. Senator from the state of Hawaii, Mazie Hirono, is a naturalized citizen, according to her official biography.

 Hirono, who ran against former Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle for the seat in 2012, makes no secret of the fact that she was “an immigrant” naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1959, which coincided with the admission of Hawaii to the union as its 50th state. 

Hirono was born on November 3, 1947 in Fukushima, Japan to a Japanese father and U.S.-citizen mother who apparently did not lose her U.S. citizenship. 

The senator’s life story states that her mother, Laura, left an abusive, alcoholic husband in Japan to return to her native land with her two young children. Mazie was seven years old at the time.

Article I of the U.S. Constitution requires that U.S. senators and representatives be “a citizen of the United States” in order to serve.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who declared himself a presidential candidate last year, was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada to a U.S.-citizen mother and a Cuban father. His life story relates that after his father left his mother and him to resettle in Houston as a Canadian citizen, the elder Cruz reconsidered his decision and reunited with his wife and son in Houston in 1974.

It is unreported on what basis the young Cruz and his mother were able to enter the U.S. at the time.

Article II, Section 1, clause 5 of the U.S. Constitution requires the president and commander-in-chief to be a “natural born Citizen.” When questioned by a reporter in 2013 about any plans to seek the presidency given the “natural born” requirement, Cruz would say only that having been born to a U.S.-citizen mother in a foreign country, he held U.S. citizenship.  When pressed as to whether or not he is a “natural born Citizen,” by the reporter, Jorge Ramos, himself a naturalized U.S. citizen, Cruz dismissively said that he would “leave it to others to worry about the legal consequences” should he decide to run.

Cruz now insists that a child born abroad to one U.S.-citizen parent is a “natural born Citizen.” In an interview in January, Cruz told CNN’s Dana Bash that “The legal issue is straightforward. The son of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a ‘natural born Citizen,’” although relying on the Naturalization Act of 1790, which was repealed and replaced by the Naturalization Act of 1795 and omitted the1790 reference to “natural born Citizens.”

Is Marco Rubio A Natural Born Citizen Eligible For President

While all the focus has been on whether or not Senator Ted Cruz is eligible to be president,

overlooked has been Marco Rubio who was born under similiar circumstances to Ted Cruz.

According to several reports, Senator Marco Rubio’s father was not a naturalized citizen when Marco was born in May 1971 per National Archives data. His father applied for naturalization in Sep 1975. Marco Rubio not constitutionally eligible to run for President or VP.

In the reports an investigator tried to learn more about Senator Marco Rubio’s exact birth citizenship status and a phone call was made to the National Archives (NARA) to learn the facts.

According to the information conveyed to the investigator during the phone calls to NARA about Senator Marco Rubio of FL, his father did not petition to become a naturalized citizen of the United States until Sep 1975, a full four years after Marco Rubio was born. 

Just like Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio had dual citizenship  American and Cuban.

If dual citizenship makes Ted Cruz ineligible wouldn't that also make Marco Rubio the same?

Can Ted Cruz run for president if he was born in Canada?

Today Ted Cruz, the Republican senator from Texas, is announcing that he is running.   

Ted Cruz  whose full name is Rafael Edward Cruz --was born in Canada in 1970 as his father was working for the oil industry there. The senator’s recently released birth certificate shows his mother was born in Delaware and his father was born in Cuba. The Cruz family left Canada a few years later. Cruz grew up in Texas and graduated from high school there, later attending Princeton University and Harvard Law School.

He also took the extra step of renouncing the Canadian citizenship he said he didn't even know he had.

By virtue of his American-born mother, Cruz, 44, considers himself a natural born citizen and eligible to run for president.

So is he eligible? The majority of legal minds believe he is. 

Is there the tiniest sliver of uncertainty? Yes, there’s that, too.

Constitutional requirements for president

The Constitution says any candidate for president must be at least 35 years of age, a resident within the United States for 14 years and a "natural born citizen."

In 2008, people raised questions about the "natural born" citizenship status of both major party candidates.

As of all current legal records, Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and his mother was a U.S. citizen. His father was Kenyan.

Then there was John McCain, who was born in the Panama Canal Zone because his American father served in the military. McCain, the 2008 GOP nominee, saw his standing briefly challenged in court.

Interestingly, both of McCain’s potential Democratic opponents -- Obama and then-Sen. Hillary Clinton -- co-sponsored a Senate measure to settle McCain’s eligibility. The April 2008 resolution said, "John Sidney McCain, III, is a 'natural born Citizen' under Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution of the United States."

Defining "natural born"

So what is a "natural born" citizen? The Constitution doesn’t specifically say.

 The consensus amongst many top constitutional scholars is  that someone is a "natural born" citizen if they have citizenship at birth and don’t have to go through a naturalization process to become a citizen.

If that’s the definition, then Cruz is a natural born citizen by being born to an American mother and having her citizenship at birth. (This same logic would apply to Obama, even if he were born in another country such as Kenya)

The Congressional Research Service published a report on the issue after the 2008 election; the agency is tasked with providing authoritative research to all members of Congress. It, too, supported the thinking that "natural born" citizenship means citizenship held "at birth."

But the Supreme Court -- the ultimate arbiter of constitutional questions -- has never ruled on the matter. And that means a note of uncertainty remains.