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Republican Cruz pushes back on questions about his U.S. citizenship

Published 2016-01-08, 02:34 p/m
Republican Cruz pushes back on questions about his U.S. citizenship

By Luciana Lopez
MASON CITY, Iowa, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Republican presidential
hopeful Ted Cruz on Friday defended his American citizenship at
a campaign stop in Iowa, pushing back against questions raised
by rival Donald Trump, who suggested Cruz's Canadian birthplace
might complicate his White House bid.
"I've never been naturalized," said Cruz, the U.S. senator
from Texas who is among the front-runners for the party's
nomination. "It was the process of being born that made me a
U.S. citizen."
Cruz is a U.S. citizen by birth because his mother was
American, although he was born in Canada.
As Cruz has pulled ahead of the Republican pack in the key
early-voting state of Iowa, businessman Donald Trump, who leads
Republicans nationally, has stepped up aggressively questioning
whether Cruz is a natural-born citizen and calling the senator's
Canadian birth a potential problem for the party.
Cruz spoke at Praise Community Church in Mason City, Iowa,
where he is on the fifth day of a six-day bus tour across the
state.
Presidents must be "natural-born citizens" under the U.S.
Constitution. Cruz was born in Calgary, Alberta, but his mother
was a U.S. citizen, which he says meets the requirements to run.
"The child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural-born
citizen," Cruz said.
"As a legal matter the question is quite straightforward,"
he added.
Cruz cited other similar examples, including Senator John
McCain. In the 2008 presidential race, McCain, the Republican
nominee, had faced questions on his citizenship because he was
born, to American parents, on a military base in the Panama
Canal Zone, which was then under U.S. control.

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