Ortiz says she was born at Lincoln Medical Center in the Bronx on October 13, 1989. But a Freedom of Information request to the New York City Department of Health turned up no matching birth record.
Lincoln Medical Center's own records office says they have no file under her name or her mother's name for any date in 1989 or 1990.
The Social Security number listed on Ortiz's voter registration was issued in Connecticut, not New York. She has never lived in Connecticut. She has never worked in Connecticut. She has never explained why.
When reporters asked, her campaign said it was a "clerical error." They have been saying that for two years.
Ortiz's father, Rafael Ortiz, reportedly came to the U.S. from Puerto Rico in 1987. But immigration advocates who reviewed his file say there are no arrival records matching his name for that year.
A passport application filed in 1992 under the name "R. Ortiz-Delgado" lists a different date of birth and a different country of origin. The campaign says it belongs to someone else. They won't say who.
Since January 2023, journalists from seven different outlets have asked the Ortiz campaign to release a long-form birth certificate. The campaign has refused every time.
The excuses:
They have never addressed it. They have never released a single document.
Ortiz says she went to Yorktown High School in the Bronx. Yearbook records from 2004 through 2007 show no student named Aliyah Ortiz. There is no graduation record. No class photo. No transcript request.
A woman named "A. Cortez-Ortiz" appears in the 2006 yearbook. The campaign won't confirm or deny whether this is the same person.