Ted Cruz: Now No Longer a Canadian

Senator Ted Cruz is officially no longer a dual Canadian-American citizen, just months after he apparently found out about his lifelong Canadian citizenship in the first place.

Senator Ted Cruz is officially no longer a dual Canadian-American citizen, just months after he apparently found out about his lifelong Canadian citizenship in the first place. Since the Texas legislator probably wants to run for president in 2016, the news that his renunciation of Canadian citizenship officially went through was welcome. Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier told the Dallas Morning News that Cruz was "pleased to receive the notification and glad to have this process finalized."

Officially, his Canadian citizenship ended in mid-May, but Cruz only received notification that his renunciation was processed this week. Several months ago, the Dallas Morning News reported on Cruz's dual citizenship, which apparently was news to the 2016 hopeful. He pledged to renounce his Canadian allegiance pretty much immediately after discovering he had it at all, assuming correctly that the dual citizenship could be a liability for his conservative base going forward. "Nothing against Canada," Cruz said at the time, "but I'm an American by birth and as a U.S. senator; I believe I should be only an American." 

However, the scrutiny of the senator's Canadian ties — now formally severed — could still be a topic he'll have to address if he makes a run in 2016. Cruz's Canadian birth is a sore subject for some scrutinizing the Tea Party candidate's very obvious potential candidacy. But despite the arguments of the Cruz birthers, Cruz is constitutionally in the clear to run: presidents must be "natural born" citizens. As the son of an American citizen entitled to American citizenship at birth, Cruz is indeed a natural born citizen (the Atlantic breaks this down in more detail, here).

Canada, like the U.S., awards citizenship to basically anyone born within its borders, whether they ask for it or not, a practice that the senator was apparently unaware of for most of his life. Cruz has said that he always assumed he only had American citizenship, because his mom told him he'd have to take action in order to obtain it.