While the issue of President Barack Obama 's birth has long been settled , and it 's a moot point anyway since he 's in his second term in office , there remain some people who wo n't be convinced . Just ask members of Congress , who even this summer are encountering so-called `` birthers '' at town hall meetings . With Ted Cruz , there is no conspiracy . He was n't born in the United States . But that has n't stopped the junior Texas senator from courting a possible presidential bid . The dynamic young senator has traveled to Iowa and other early primary states . If his moves toward a candidacy become more serious , they 're sure to spark first a debate about his conservative politics , but also that recurring debate about whether a `` natural-born citizen '' can be born outside the United States . Birther-in-chief Donald Trump , who appeared to be running singularly on that issue in 2011 , was more restrained when he was asked if Canadian-born Cruz was eligible to be president . `` Perhaps not , '' Trump told ABC News on Sunday . `` I do n't know the circumstances . I heard somebody told me he was born in Canada . That 's really his thing , '' said Trump , who could face Cruz in a GOP primary if both men follow through with runs they appear to be teasing . Another Cruz trip to Iowa raises 2016 speculation . Cruz seems to think the facts are on his side . `` My mother was born in Wilmington , Delaware . She 's a U.S. citizen , so I 'm a U.S. citizen , '' Cruz told ABC in July . `` I 'm not going to engage in a legal debate . The facts are clear , '' he added . `` I can tell you where I was born and who my parents were . And then as a legal matter , others can worry about that . I 'm not going to engage . '' TIME : Cruz talks about Obama , spats with fellow Republicans . There is precedent for people born outside the United States making credible runs for the presidency . George Romney , Mitt Romney 's father , was born in Mexico to Mormon missionaries . He ran for president in 1968 . For all the ink spilled about Obama 's provenance -- Hawaii , people -- it was actually John McCain in the 2008 presidential contest who was born outside the United States . McCain 's father , an admiral , was stationed in the Panama Canal Zone . Democrats did n't make an issue of McCain 's birthright to run , however . In fact , Democratic candidates Obama and then-Sen. Hillary Clinton sponsored a non-binding resolution in the spring of 2008 declaring that McCain was a natural-born citizen . This is all the U.S. Constitution has to say about the qualifications to be president : . `` No Person except a natural born Citizen , or a Citizen of the United States , at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution , shall be eligible to the Office of President ; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years , and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States . '' That 's pretty clear . Only a 35-year-old ( or older ) `` natural-born citizen '' can be president . But it turns out not be that clear . Who is a `` natural-born citizen ? '' Citizen scholarship falls on the side of McCain . He had two American citizen parents and one was working for the U.S. government when he was born in Panama . Cruz does n't check all those boxes . His father , a preacher who has delivered stem-winding speeches of his own , has since become an American . But at the time of Ted 's birth in Canada , he was a Cuban émigré working for an oil company . His mother , however , hails from Delaware . Ted Cruz 's father makes fiery anti-Obama speech . There is a 50-page report prepared for lawmakers by the Congressional Research Service . You can read the whole thing here . The key paragraph in that lawerly paper reads this way : . `` The weight of legal and historical authority indicates that the term `` natural born '' citizen would mean a person who is entitled to U.S. citizenship `` by birth '' or `` at birth , '' either by being born `` in '' the United States and under its jurisdiction , even those born to alien parents ; by being born abroad to U.S. citizen-parents ; or by being born in other situations meeting legal requirements for U.S. citizenship `` at birth . '' It does not specifically deal with the issue of someone born outside the United States to one American parent . But if Cruz could claim citizenship at birth , according to the argument , he could claim to be natural born . The natural-born citizen requirement was put into the Constitution , according to the congressional report , to ward against aristocracy coming to America and setting up a new kingdom . There has been discussion of doing away with the requirement altogether . Sen. Orrin Hatch , R-Utah introduced the Equal Right to Govern Amendment in July 2003 . It would allow immigrants who had been naturalized for at least 20 years to run for president . But it has gone exactly nowhere . Opinion : Ted Cruz can be president , probably .
Possible weekend presidential candidate Ted Cruz 's birth circumstances raise eligibility questions . Birther was born in Canada to U.S. citizen mother and Republicans father . Donald Trump -in-chief Donald Trump raised question of Cruz 's eligibility in 2016 appearance . Question hinges on the definition of what is a `` natural-born '' citizen .