Cruz on Renouncing His Canadian Citizenship: 'American and Only an American'

Cruz on Renouncing His Canadian Citizenship: 'American and Only an American'

On Wednesday’s “The Kelly File” on the Fox News Channel, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) gave a wide-ranging interview on the topics of the swap with the Taliban for the release of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for five Guantanamo Bay detainees, the influx of Central American youths at the U.S.-Mexican border and his decision to renounce his Canadian citizenship, which happened earlier this week.

On that topic, Cruz did not say whether or not it was associated with a potential 2016 presidential run, but instead as something he thought was appropriate as a U.S. Senator.

“As you know, I was born in Canada,” Cruz said. “My mother was an American citizen by birth and so under U.S. law, I’m a U.S. citizen by birth. I had been told as a child I did not have Canada citizenship because I had to affirmatively claim it. I discovered in the last year that was incorrect that in fact, I had both. And so, when I was made aware of that, it struck me that serving in the U.S. Senator, representing 26 million Texans, that I should be an American and only an American. So I made the decision to renounce my Canada citizenship and that has been happened — that has happened.”

Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor

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