the term “natural born” means that one is an American citizen at birth, as opposed to “naturalized”, indicating that citizenship was granted after birth.
Is a child born of an American mother not a citizen of the U.S.? If not, what are the “disqualifying” circumstances?
dontreadthis: “Is a child born of an American mother not a citizen of the U.S.? If not, what are the “disqualifying” circumstances?”
I see I’m rather late to these discussions. We had dual citizen children, because they were born when I was assigned overseas in the military. However, neither of them claimed citizenship in the other country when they came of age.
I always considered “natural born” to mean born in the US. In other words, I didn’t think my children were eligible to become president. However, Senator McCain was born in similar circumstances. There’s a good (and seemingly fair) article on it here:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/mccain/citizen.asp
BTW, I do not believe everyone born in the USA is a natural born American or even an American citizen. Illegal aliens who cross the border to give birth are not subject to the jurisdiction of our laws.
In answer to your questions, there’s no doubt that Senator Cruz is an American citizen. The debate is over whether or not he’s natural born, and that issue isn’t quite as clear as the other. However, I’d vote for Senator Cruz given what I know now.