Despite what some might argue in the coming months, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is qualified to run for president of the United States, even though he was born in Canada.
The Texas Republican was born Dec. 22, 1970, in Calgary. He had natural American citizenship from the moment he was born because his mother, Eleanor Darragh, was a U.S. citizen from Delaware who had physically lived in the U.S. for at least five years, as reported by Vox.com. His father, Rafael Cruz, was a Cuban national who became a U.S. citizen in 2005.
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Cruz also received Canadian citizenship when he was born, but later renounced it after he was elected to the Senate.
Even if he hadn’t renounced his Canadian citizenship, he would still qualify to run for president.
Check out a longer explanation of why Ted Cruz qualifies to run for president in the full story from Vox.