Joe Scarborough Impersonates Ted Cruz Renouncing Canadian Citizenship

Ted Cruz, Tea Party Favourite, To Renounce Canadian Citizenship (CBC)

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz said Monday that he will renounce his Canadian citizenship.

The Texas Republican and Tea Party favourite announced his plans Monday night in a statement. The move comes in the wake of a report by The Dallas Morning News that Cruz holds dual U.S. and Canadian citizenship.

Cruz released his birth certificate amid concerns that being born in Canada could derail a possible presidential run by the Tea Party firebrand.

The 42-year-old gave a copy of the document to The Dallas Morning News, which posted a picture of it online Monday. It shows Cruz's birth in Calgary on Dec. 22, 1970, while listing his mother, Eleanor Elizabeth Wilson, as having been born in Delaware and his father, Rafael Bienvenido Cruz, as a native of Cuba.

'Nothing against Canada, but I'm an American by birth and as a U.S. Senator, I believe I should be only an American.'
—Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican

Cruz's father was an engineer, and the couple had come to Canada as part of that country's energy boom — although Cruz would spend most of his formative years in Houston.