Earlier this year, the Florida legislature passed a bill, then signed by Gov. DeSantis, prohibiting Chinese nationals from purchasing land in the state within 10 miles of military installations and other critical infrastructure. In doing so, Florida joined some 20 other states similarly limiting Chinese ownership of land. The Florida law also restricts land purchases by citizens of Cuba, Venezuela, Syria, Iran, Russia, and North Korea, though only the Chinese face felony charges for violations. After July 1, when the law is scheduled to take effect, it will be a felony for Chinese people to buy property in restricted areas or for any person or real estate company to knowingly sell to restricted people. For the other targeted nations, the penalty is a misdemeanor for buyers and sellers.
Nationally, companion bills have been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, both with bipartisan support.
Given today’s judiciocratic system of government, it comes as no surprise that the lawyers are already suing to stymie the will of the electorate as expressed by their elected representatives. With the help of the ACLU, a group of Chinese people have filed suit to stop the law before it takes effect, claiming that the law–in the words of NBC News–will have a “substantial chilling effect” on the ability of Chinese citizens to buy land in America.
Well, yeah, that’s the idea, ACLU.
The consensus seems to be that the recent episode of a Chinese balloon scouting out the North American continent seems to have inspired the rash of land-purchase restrictions, including the Florida law. That may be, but the bigger problem–and there is always a bigger problem–is that foreigners already own 40 million acres of American farmland and the portion of that that the Chinese own is at 383,935 acres and growing. There’s no better time to stop the sell-off than now.
For more, see Fox News.