For years, President Barack Obama’s citizenship has been questioned. Some claim he’s not a natural-born American citizen, a requirement of being President of the United States.
A similar accusation has been made about Texas Republican and presidential candidate Ted Cruz. He was born in Canada to an American mother and a Cuban father.
Florida Republican and presidential candidate Marco Rubio used that in a way to criticize Cruz’s position on birthright citizenship.
During the Republican presidential debate on Jan. 14, Rubio said Cruz used to be "in favor of birthright citizenship" but is now against it.
PolitiFact Florida heard the claim and gave it a MOSTLY FALSE rating.
PolitiFact writer Joshua Gillin said this whole argument goes back to a 2011 radio interview in which Cruz said current laws, specifically the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, should be enforced to solve immigration problems. That seemed to indicate he is for birthright citizenship, not against it.
“Now, we don’t really consider this a flip flop here, and so there’s been a lot of debate about it,” Gillin said. “But in this case, he has come out said we should now try to amend the Constitution or try to legislate it somehow.”
For this reason, Rubio’s statement received a MOSTLY FALSE rating.
SOURCES: Rubio claims Cruz against birthright citizenship
- Ted Cruz, remarks in the Republican presidential debate in North Charleston, S.C., Jan. 14, 2016
- The Duke Machado Show, "GOPisForMe Spotlight: Ted Cruz on 14th Amendment," Oct. 5, 2011
- PolitiFact, "Is Ted Cruz, born in Canada, eligible to run for president? (Updated)," March 26, 2015
- The Michael Medved Show, Ted Cruz interview, Aug. 19, 2015
- Huffington Post, "Ted Cruz Once Said It Was A 'Mistake' To Try To End Birthright Citizenship," Aug. 20, 2015
- Houston Chronicle, "Ted Cruz: Border security before birthright revocation," Aug. 20, 2015
- Face the Nation, "Ted Cruz: Birthright citizenship ‘doesn't make sense’," Aug. 23, 2015
- The Kelly File, "Shrink player Ted Cruz on changing the policy of birthright citizenship," Aug. 25, 2015
- PolitiFact Texas, "Ted Cruz says it's always been that babies born to U.S. citizens abroad are citizens from birth," Sept. 4, 2015
- Washington Examiner, "Ted Cruz: More flexible than you think," Nov. 19, 2015
- Bloomberg, "Cruz’s ‘Natural-Born Citizen’ Status Tested in Birther Suit," Jan. 14, 2016
- Sen. Marco Rubio, "The Facts on Cruz’s Record of Flip-Flops," Jan. 14, 2016
- Interview with Joe Pounder, Rubio spokesman, Jan. 14, 2016