Dallas, United States.- A legislator wants to prohibit Chinese citizens from buying property in Texas for reasons of “national security.”
The bill, which would also affect Russians, Iranians and North Koreans, was introduced in November 2022 by Republican Lois Kolkhorst, a senator in the Texas state legislature.
“One of the concerns of many Texans is national security and the increasing ownership of Texas land by certain antagonistic foreign entities,” Kolkhorst said.
The Governor of that state, Greg Abbott, a Republican and staunch defender of more severe immigration policies, has already announced that he will sign it when the local Senate approves it.
Of the 28 million people in Texas, 1.4 million self-identify as Asian and 223,500 consider themselves of Chinese origin, according to recent official estimates.
In Houston, the state’s most populous city with 2.3 million and the fourth largest in the United States, more than 156,000 identify as Asian.
Among them, there are not only Americans of Chinese origin but also Chinese who hold a “green card” or permanent residence, but are not naturalized.
“All these people pay taxes and make a huge contribution to universities in education,” said Ling Luo, a first-generation Chinese migrant and director of the Asian American Leadership Council in Houston.
“If they can’t buy property here anymore, that’s not fair, it’s blatant discrimination against the Chinese community.”
Although the proposal includes other countries, Luo pointed out that the Chinese population in the area is the largest. This initiative “has us very frustrated and upset, with fear.”
In his opinion, the regulation promoted by Kolkhorst does not make sense for the state, considered Democrat Gene Wu, a member of the Texas House of Representatives.
“I think our country goes through these waves of finding immigrant and minority groups to demonize,” he said. Muslims and Latinos have been through similar situations for seasons.
“In the 1960s, Texas tried to pass a bill that said the Chinese weren’t allowed to own grocery stores,” Wu said.
higher tensions
Even without a date for debate, Wu believes that the increase in diplomatic tensions after the United States shot down last weekend an alleged Chinese surveillance balloon that entered its territory, can give strength to these initiatives.
“Increased tensions are used as an excuse to persecute the community,” but “there is a difference between people of Chinese descent and the Chinese government,” he explained.
“China is Texas’ second-largest trading partner and third-largest buyer of produce. Potentially, a law like this could jeopardize all of those contracts.”
The author of the project mentions among her reasons the purchase of some 52,600 hectares near the Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Río, by a retired Chinese Army officer, whom they considered linked to the Ruling Communist Party.
In 2021, the project of ex-serviceman Sun Guangxin, who planned to build a solar and wind farm there and enter the energy business, was blocked by Texas.
A law passed that year prevented businesses linked to the Chinese government – in addition to the other three countries mentioned in the bill – from accessing the electricity grid and strategic assets.
For Wu, that law made “more sense”, but now it is about people, and the figures do not justify the measure.
According to the National Association of Realtors, in a 12-month period ending March 2022, Chinese investments accounted for 6 percent of all foreign home purchases in the United States, although their main destinations were California or New York. and not Texas.
Discrimination
“Migrants do not represent the interests of the Chinese government, many like my family fled China at the time of the cultural revolution, when there was persecution of those who did not agree with the ideas of the Communist Party,” recalls Wu.
Senator Kolkhorst has clarified that during the debate it will be specified that the rule will not affect “legal permanent residents” or “against those who flee from tyranny.”
For Ling Luo, the damage is already done, no matter if you are a US citizen like her.
“It’s not printed on your face if you’re a citizen. It’s your Chinese face that gives them the right to hate you or hit you. Even other Asians who look Chinese can also be abused,” he said.
