Thread: Now Marco Rubio has his own 'birther' problem

Is Trump the only 'natural-born citizen' in the GOP race?

Now Marco Rubio has his own 'birther' problem

• Florida senator was born in Miami in 1971, but his parents weren't US citizens until 1975

• Rubio is fighting a legal complaint in Florida that claims he and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz are ineligible for the presidency
• 'Birther' issue has broken out in the GOP presidential field over the past few weeks - thanks to Donald Trump

By J. TAYLOR RUSHING, U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER, FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 17:01 EST, 14 January 2016 | UPDATED: 17:40 EST, 14 January 2016

2View comments

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who has risen as high as second place in some polls on the Republican side of the 2016 presidential race, may soon be the new target of critics who contend he is not a U.S. citizen and therefore ineligible for the presidency.

Rubio went to court in Florida this week to have dismissed a complaint filed against him over his U.S. citizenship and presidential eligibility, arguing that the complaint 'would jeopardize centuries of precedent and deem at least six former presidents ineligible for office.'

According to a report in the Tampa Bay Times, a Fort Lauderdale resident, Michael Voeltz, filed a complaint challenging the citizenship of both Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. The complaint argues that the two senators 'at the very least simply fail to comply with the common law Supreme Court established definition of natural born citizen.'

Rubio's legal team filed a motion to dismiss the complaint on Monday.

'Senator Rubio is a natural born citizen of the United States and he is eligible to be President of the United States,' the dismissal motion says.

In a 2011 interview with The Times, Rubio dismissed speculation over his citizenship.

'I’m not going to answer that because I’m not thinking about it,' he said at the time. 'All I care about is my qualifications to serve in the Senate. I just don’t think it’s relevant.'

The so-called 'birther' issue has often been raised by GOP front-runner Donald Trump - first against President Obama over the years, and lately against Cruz, another GOP presidential candidate, with whom Trump is tied for the lead in polls in Iowa.

Cruz was born in Canada in 1970 to an American woman, but held dual citizenship between the two countries for decades. Trump has been mocking the Texas senator's claim that he has 'natural-born' U.S. citizenship and challenging him to prove it in court - contributing to the erasing of a once-significant Cruz lead in Iowa.

Ironically, a Florida Democratic congressman and attorney, Alan Grayson, has announced plans to sue Cruz to establish Cruz's eligibility should he eventually win the GOP nomination.

When asked by reporters about Cruz's citizenship last week, Rubio said, 'I don't think that's an issue.'

Rubio was born in Miami in 1971, but his parents were born in Cuba and came to the U.S. in 1956. They did not obtain U.S. citizenship until 1975.

Critics say Rubio is therefore ineligible to run for president under Article 2 of the Constitution, which declares 'no person except a natural born citizen … shall be eligible to the Office of President.'

The 'birther' row between Trump and Cruz began early last week, after Trump generated several days' worth of media stories by discussing Cruz's eligibility for the presidency.

A day later, 2008 presidential nominee John McCain also called it into question. McCain himself has faced the issue before, since he was born on a U.S. military base in the Panama Canal zone.

The 2012 GOP nominee, Mitt Romney, whose father faced similar questions when he ran for president in 1968 because he was born in Mexico, came to Cruz's defense on Twitter last week.

However, Cruz was knocked off-message by the attack and his campaign even had to consult and display his mother's birth certificate

Grayson and others have noted that there is little legal precedent for the 'natural born' citizenship theory being tested on a presidential nominee. Furthermore, he says Cruz's mother, Eleanor, may have forfeited her U.S. citizenship by taking a Canadian oath of citizenship - as specified in Section 349 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

McCain told reporters this week that the 'natural born' language in the Constitution should be legally clarified.

The Times report said it independently obtained Rubio's parents' immigration papers and verified their 1975 U.S. citizenship.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz3xGHYIL3i

Furthermore, he says Cruz's mother, Eleanor, may have forfeited her U.S. citizenship by taking a Canadian oath of citizenship - as specified in Section 349 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Where's that coming from? I haven't seen or heard anything that would substantiate such a claim. Why would Ted's mother take such an oath. To my knowledge she had no plans to remain in Canada indefinitely. Is this just another instance of throwing as much crap on the wall is possible in hopes some of it will stick?

Furthermore, he says Cruz's mother, Eleanor, may have forfeited her U.S. citizenship by taking a Canadian oath of citizenship - as specified in Section 349 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Originally Posted by MW

Where's that coming from? I haven't seen or heard anything that would substantiate such a claim. Why would Ted's mother take such an oath. To my knowledge she had no plans to remain in Canada indefinitely. Is this just another instance of throwing as much crap on the wall is possible in hopes some of it will stick?

When Cruz's mother and father lived in Canada his father became a Canadian citizen before Ted was born. Why would his mother not have become a Canadian citizen?

"Rafael Cruz, was born in Cuba, obtained Canadian citizenship while living in Calgary and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in the mid-2000s, Johnson explained."
(Ted Cruz Mom Appears on 1974 Canadian Voter List)

@ http://www.alipac.us/f9/ted-cruz-bir...mother-327230/

1/9/16
"The name of Sen. Ted Cruz's U.S.-born mother reportedly appeared on a Canadian government document listing her as a citizen eligible to vote in the 1974 federal election there."

2/20/16

TED CRUZ CAMPAIGN HIT AGAIN, NEW 'BIRTHER' LAWSUIT FILED IN NEW YORK