By Carolyn Bick
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

The White House has announced plans to move forward  with an outright ban on Chinese ownership of U.S. farmland, citing concerns over the proximity of Chinese-owned land to  military bases.

The development is part of a growing trend. As of mid-December 2024, as the country prepared for President Donald Trump to take office, 40 states had introduced 215 different bills meant to limit foreign ownership of land. Of those bills, 164 specifically limited Chinese ownership, reported the nonpartisan Chinese American civic engagement and advocacy nonprofit, Committee of 100.

These aggressive moves are not uncommon, Committee of 100’s interim president and general counsel Cindy Tsai said during a March 5 webinar meant to address the increasing number of restrictive land ownership bills popping up in legislatures around the country. Such laws—known as Alien Land Laws—have historically been used to discriminate against and harm immigrants and people of color, Asian Pacific American (APA) Justice said in a fact sheet. These kinds of laws have resulted in harmful practices like redlining.

The webinar’s speakers addressed the 82 bills that 28 different states are considering that restrict foreign ownership of property, along with the 38 bills that 22 states are considering that specifically restrict land ownership by people from certain countries. Of the latter group, 17 have already been passed into law—and their effects are already causing confusion and disorder.

The bills as-written are vague at best, and “sweep up individuals and families way beyond their intended targets,” said John Travisña, a human rights attorney and the Obama Administration’s Office former secretary of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity secretary in the U.S. Housing and Urban Development.

And it gets “worse,” Travisña said. The text and intent of these bills carry the not-so-subtle messaging that has long plagued Asian immigrants and their descendents: that all Asians and Asian Americans are “foreigners or are carrying out the agenda of their ancestors’ homelands.”

These issues are exemplified in Florida’s 2024 bill, SB 264, the webinar’s speakers said. The National Fair Housing Alliance, the Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA), Housing Opportunities Project for Excellence, Inc., and the Fair Housing Center of the Greater Palm Beaches last year filed a lawsuit against the bill, asserting that it violates the Fair Housing Act.

“Our complaint alleged that the law was motivated by discriminatory intent during Governor DeSantis’ initial press release about the bill,” said Scott Chang, senior counsel for the National Fair Housing Alliance. “He invoked insidious stereotypes, accusing Chinese people of worming their way into American society. We also allege that the law has severe disproportionate effects on people from the seven targeted countries.”

The bill “greatly restricts people from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, and Syria from purchasing real property in the state,” an Asian Americans Advancing Justice — AAJC 2024 press release about the lawsuit states. “The law almost completely prohibits Chinese citizens and people domiciled in China from buying property in the state.”

“People domiciled in one of the other six countries are prohibited from buying real property within 10 miles of critical infrastructure facilities or military institutions—a restriction that covers 98.5% of all residential land in the state,” the press release continues.

SB 264 creates not only confusion, but serious legal hurdles for realtors, Hope Atuel, executive director of the AREAA, said. A majority of the AREAA’s membership consists of real estate professionals, brokers, and agents, she said, many of whom are now constantly concerned of running afoul of the law by participating in a transaction that could be considered either a felony or a misdemeanor.

But that’s part of the problem, Atuel said. It’s almost impossible to know when such a transaction would be considered illegal. In abiding by the Fair Housing Act, real estate professionals can’t make assumptions or ask about a person’s race, residency status, or citizenship status.

“Do you just say, ‘I’m not going to work with you because your last name sounds like it’s Chinese?’” Atuel said. “I have a staff team who’s … multiracial. And if you take a look at some of them, they don’t look like they have Chinese descent, but their last name sounds like it’s Chinese. So would you go by surname?”

Adhering to Florida’s legislation is “going to be discriminatory, whether we like it or not,” Atuel continued.

“They may often just err on the side of assuming that someone is covered by the law because they have an Asian surname, because they look Asian,” Chang said. “This law opens the door to discrimination against Asian Americans, much more broadly than the targets of the law itself.”

And any time such discrimination is legalized, Chang said, “it opens the door to other types of discrimination.”

“We’ve seen in history that Alien Land Laws then led to other restrictions on people being admitted to professions, like the law profession,” Chang said. “So I think that there’s a huge potential for there to be discrimination both in housing and in other areas of life.”

“These laws once used to discriminate against Asian immigrants in the early 20th century are now resurfacing under the guise of national security concerns, yet their underlying impact remains unchanged,” APA Justice’s Jeremy Wu, who spoke briefly at the end of the webinar, said. “They foster exclusion, xenophobia, and the erosion of fundamental rights for Asian Americans, particularly those of Chinese descent.”

“The consequences go well beyond just one community,” he continued. “These laws threaten broader property rights, hinder business investments, and strain international relations. … Fair housing rights are fundamental to equality and opportunity. Policies that discriminate based on race, national origin, or citizenship status undermine those principles, and must be challenged.”

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