If Mitt Romney's father was born in Mexico, how could he run for president? George Romney was born to American citizens living in a Mormon church colony in Chihuahua, Mexico. "When you're born outside the United States to [U.S.] citizens, you have citizenship at birth," explained Peter J. Spiro, a professor at Temple's Beasley School of Law and an expert on citizenship. "You don't have to do anything to claim your citizenship."