Ted Cruz has hired a lawyer in order to renounce his Canadian citizenship, the Dallas Morning News reports. “I have retained counsel that is preparing the paperwork to renounce the citizenship,” Cruz said, adding that the process should be finished sometime in 2014.
Though Cruz was born in Alberta 43 years ago, he says he did not know he was a Canadian citizen until the Dallas Morning News wrote on this issue last August. As the child of an American mother, Cruz was automatically granted American citizenship at birth in accordance with U.S. law. However Canada, like the United States, automatically grants citizenship to anyone born on its soil.
According to Cruz, his mother was told that in order to claim Canadian citizenship for her son, he had to actively request it. Both she and Cruz were surprised to discover that Cruz is a Canadian citizen.
Cruz said in August, soon after hearing reports of his dual citizenship, that he planned to renounce his formal ties to Canada. “Nothing against Canada, but I’m an American by birth and as a U.S. senator; I believe I should be only an American,” Cruz said.