Texas Senator Ted Cruz renouncing his Canadian citizenship



Senator Ted Cruz has lawyers working to renounce his Canadian citizenship

Cruz says he only discovered he had dual U.S.-Canadian citizenship after the Dallas Morning News reported it in August

Experts say despite his Canadian birth, he is likely to be eligible to run for President

Cruz met with Donald Trump, a leading voice in the 'birther' movement that questioned President Obama's citizenship

He said the issue of his birth was raised but 'not in any significant respect'

Texas Senator Ted Cruz is taking steps to officially renounce his Canadian citizenship.



He said in a recent interview, 'I have retained counsel that is preparing the paperwork to renounce the citizenship,' adding that he expects the process to be complete sometime in 2014.



The senator, now in his first term, has said that he was completely unaware he possessed dual USA and Canadian citizenship until a Dallas newspaper reported it in August this year.



Canadian: Cruz was born in Canada and has dual citizenship, a fact he claims to have been unaware of

The Dallas Morning News reported that when Cruz was born, his parents lived in Calgary where his Cuban-born father worked the oil fields.

He lived in Canada until the age of four, when he moved to Texas.



He said his American mother had understood that it would take affirmative action to claim Canadian citizenship and that he had never even been aware he possessed it.



In actual fact, like the U.S., Canada confers citizenship to anyone born on its soil, regardless of the nationality of the parents.



Many have questioned Cruz's eligibility to run for President in the future as a result of his foreign birth.



According to Politifact, Cruz - full name Rafael Edward Cruz - most likely is eligible to run.



The Constitution states that any candidate for president must be a resident within the US for 14 years and a 'natural born citizen' - but does not explain what exactly that means.



In the absence of a Supreme Court ruling on the issue, legal experts have interpreted the phrase to mean 'citizenship held at birth,' which Cruz has by virtue of his mother.



The Republican, whose mother is American and father is Cuban, is taking steps to renounce his Canadian citizenship

Just to be on the safe side, though, Cruz is relinquishing his Canadian citizenship once and for all.



'Serving as a U.S. senator, I think it's appropriate that I be only an American,' he told CNN.



Cruz told the Dallas Morning News that the issue came up when he met with Donald Trump recently.



Trump famously demanded to see President Obama's birth certificate after repeatedly speculating that Obama was not a citizen of the United States.



In an appearance on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor in 2011, he suggested a birth certificate would show that the President is Muslim. After seeing the proof that Obama was indeed born in Hawaii, he continued to raise questions over its authenticity.



Mr America: Donald Trump speculated about President Obama's citizenship but apparently didn't dwell on Cruz's during a recent meeting between the two

Cruz told the Dallas Morning News that the issue of his birth had come up with Trump, though 'not in any significant respect.'



Trump insisted Obama may have violated the Constitution despite proof of the President having been born to a U.S. mother on U.S. soil.



What does he make of Ted Cruz, born to a U.S. mother on Canadian soil?

