Will Ted Cruz Respond to The Post & Email on the Eligibility Question?

“NO PERSON, EXCEPT A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN…”

by Sharon Rondeau

(Apr. 13, 2015) — The letter linked below was sent by certified mail to the campaign office of Texas Sen. Rafael Edward “Ted” Cruz on Monday morning.

On March 23, Cruz declared himself a candidate for President of the United States on Twitter; on the same day, his campaign committee, Cruz for President, filed an official Statement of Candidacy with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC).

Cruz was born on December 22, 1970 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada to Rafael Bienvenido Cruz and Eleanor Darragh Cruz.  The elder Rafael had fought on the side of Fidel Castro in Cuba, later fleeing to the United States on a student visa.  Eleanor was an American citizen.

At some point while working in the Canadian oil business, Cruz’s father became a Canadian citizen.  It is unknown whether or not Eleanor followed suit or became a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen.

Cruz was born a Canadian citizen because in Canada, the citizenship of the parents is not a factor to that of the child.  In 2013, Cruz claimed to have been unaware that he lived his entire life as a Canadian citizen, when The Dallas Morning News reported that he was born with dual citizenship. Cruz vowed to renounce his Canadian citizenship, completing the task in May of last year.

Article II, Section 1, clause 5 of the U.S. Constitution requires the president to be a “natural born Citizen.”  Historical texts indicate that the citizenship of the parents, or at least the father, was of greater importance than the birthplace of the child in determining citizenship.  The presidency and vice-presidency are the only federal positions where the “natural born” requirement, suggested by founding father John Jay, is imposed.

Rep. John Bingham, author of the 14th Amendment, is on record as having stated that a “natural born Citizen” is one who was born in the United States to two citizen parents.

The U.S. State Department claims it cannot release any documents it may hold on an individual without the person’s consent because of “privacy” reasons, even when the subject is a public figure.

In a letter received on April 10, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) invoked the same reason for denying The Post & Email access to any potential citizenship documents on Cruz.

On Monday morning, Anna Murray of the Federal Trade Commission, where Cruz worked for just under two years between 2001 and 2003, informed The Post & Email that she believed the agency had released all of the documents permissible under the FOIA law.  Murray said that performance reviews are exempt from disclosure under Exemption 6(b).  The Post & Email had specifically requested the application forms Cruz would have completed before acquiring his position as Director of Policy Planning at the FTC and has followed up with Ms. Murray to clarify whether or not they would fall under “personnel and medical files and similar files.”

Letter-to-Cruz-Qualifications

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Update, April 14, 2015:  On Monday afternoon, Ms. Murray clarified to The Post & Email that federal employment application forms fall under Exemption 6(b), as they are considered part of an applicant’s personnel file.  She also said that many government departments operate on a “6-7-year retention” policy for employee records.