He's right. Nor would Cruz be considered natural born according to over 100 years of recorded law.
North Noonday Mining Co vs Orient Mining Co found in The Federal Reporter, page 527, Copyright 1880.
( https://books.google.com/books?id=BqoKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA527&lpg=PA527&dq=%22A+person+born+in+a+foreign+country+out+of+the+Jurisdiction+of+the+United+States+whose+father+is+not+a+citizen+of+the+United+States+can+only+become+a+citizen+by+naturalization%22&source=bl&ots=mbJLGg0xYe&sig=dS2N1-6vy1rwQ5xiI8lY9B_Bs3Y&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi65PXvuKDKAhUJKyYKHd0FADYQ6AEIMjAH#v=onepage&q=%22A%20person%20born%20in%20a%20foreign%20country%20out%20of%20the%20Jurisdiction%20of%20the%20United%20States%20whose%20father%20is%20not%20a%20citizen%20of%20the%20United%20States%20can%20only%20become%20a%20citizen%20by%20naturalization%22&f=false )
All persons born or naturalized In the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States. A person born in a foreign country out of the Jurisdiction of the United States whose father is not a citizen of the United States can only become a citizen by naturalization.
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Wong Kim Ark, 1898
( https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/169/649/case.html )
A person born out of the jurisdiction of the United States can only become a citizen by being naturalized, either by treaty, as in the case of the annexation of foreign territory, or by authority of congress, exercised either by declaring certain classes of persons to be citizens, as in the enactments conferring citizenship upon foreign-born children of citizens,..
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Citizenship of the United States, Expatriation, and Protection Abroad, By United States Dept. of State, Page 141, 1906
( https://books.google.com/books?id=5K5IAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA141&lpg=PA141&dq=%22A+person+born+in+a+foreign+country+out+of+the+Jurisdiction+of+the+United+States+whose+father+is+not+a+citizen+of+the+United+States+can+only+become+a+citizen+by+naturalization%22&source=bl&ots=kn3s5Dcu1y&sig=RXJoQRD1JWfxRAlLr_IyhAW_nDk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi65PXvuKDKAhUJKyYKHd0FADYQ6AEIJDAC#v=onepage&q=%22A%20person%20born%20in%20a%20foreign%20country%20out%20of%20the%20Jurisdiction%20of%20the%20United%20States%20whose%20father%20is%20not%20a%20citizen%20of%20the%20United%20States%20can%20only%20become%20a%20citizen%20by%20naturalization%22&f=false )
A person born in a foreign country, out of the jurisdiction of the United States, whose father is not a citizen of the United States, can only become a citizen by naturalization. The foreign born son becomes a citizen by being himself naturalized, or by the naturalization of the father during the minority of the son.
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The 1790 Naturalization Act's natural born language was changed for a reason - to denote the at the time of it's adoption time-frame the Founders put in the Constitution.
After the 1795 Naturalization Act was passed, the REPEAL of the previous act and the language changing to a citizen of the United States meant they were naturalized citizens, because NATURALIZATION is the only authority that Congress can possess outside that adoptive time frame.
Cruz was born outside the jurisdiction of the United States, and his citizenship is derived from his mother's - but it is not equal to it. He is a naturalized citizen at birth.
With few exceptions, natural born citizens must be born in their native country.
great post!
Wong Kim Ark’s ruling was a matter of Statutory law: Congress at the time declined to confer citizenship at birth to children of citizens living overseas. But that didn’t mean that had they conferred citizenship, those children wouldn’t be considered natural-born citizens. The 1906 Dept. of State doubtlessly followed such statutory law, not the repealed 1790 law.
The 1795 law in no way redefines “natural born,” refers to any citizen at birth as “naturalized,” nor denies “natural born” status to anyone born a citizen. Nowhere in any statutory or case law is there any reference to anyone born a citizen being “naturalized.”