A new bill proposed in the Texas Legislature would prohibit citizens, entities and governments from certain countries from purchasing or obtaining property in-state.
Senate Bill 147 was filed by Sen. Lois W. Kolkhorst, a Republican from Brenham. If passed, citizens of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea would be unable to purchase land or property in the state of Texas.
Kolkhorst says the bill is a matter of national security, citing a parcel of land near Laughlin Air Force Base that is now owned by a Chinese firm.
“The growing ownership of Texas land by some foreign entities is highly disturbing and raises red flags for many Texans,” Kolkhorst said in a press release. “By comparison, as an American go try to buy land near a Chinese military base and see how it works out for you. It would never happen there and it shouldn’t happen here. Passing this law delivers some basic safeguards to ensure Texans remain in control of Texas land.”
The bill follows a similar vow for executive action taken by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in response to the sale of a 1,400-acre parcel of land purchased by a Chinese corporation for a primate research facility.
SB 147 has generated significant media attention, particularly from those who disagree with Kolkhorst’s stance. Opponents of the bill include Texas State Representative Gene Wu, who says the bill is “openly and aggressively unconstitutional” in its treatment of immigrants and foreign-born people.
“The irony is that all the people from these countries who are here in America have fled those countries. They are fleeing the government. To punish those people for a government they don’t agree with is a dangerous, slippery slope,” he said. “[My family] didn’t just come from China — we fled China. We came to America for freedom, for democracy and for the chance to live out the American dream.”
Wu says his own family wouldn’t have been able to purchase his childhood home under the legislation proposed in SB 147. Under U.S. law, foreign-born people aren’t recognized as American citizens until the moment they’re sworn in — meaning that people undergoing the lengthy process of obtaining citizenship would also be affected if the bill is passed.
“My family is all immigrants. We were green card holders. It took years and a lot of hard work to get citizenship,” Wu said. “In the meantime, we bought homes, started careers. For immigrant families, homeownership is the first milestone of the American dream.”
In response to Kolkhorst’s worries about foreign ownership of Texas properties, Wu says security concerns were already addressed in SB 2116 — which was signed into law in 2021. Under SB 2116, also called the Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act, foreign-owned businesses must undergo a stringent vetting process to prevent threats to “critical infrastructure.” Additionally, President Biden’s executive order from September 2022 expands the list of potential security risks that should be investigated by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). That means the land purchase cited in SB 147 was vetted for intellectual property and military security reasons and approved by a federal group, said Wu.
While SB 147 currently only names entities and citizens from four countries, Wu says a simple amendment could add immigrants from other countries to the list of people prohibited from owning land in the U.S. In addition to concerns this raises for non-citizens living in the U.S, the implications for Texas’ economy could be devastating.
Gov. Greg Abbott shared via Twitter that he plans to sign the bill, although Wu says a legal challenge will likely follow due to the unconstitutionality of the proposal. However, he says the message will have already been sent to foreign-born people and international businesses.
“We don’t want to wait until the courts stop this because the damage will already have been done, not just to our communities but to the state’s economy,” Wu said. “It really sends the wrong message. Any person from another country will think twice before coming to Texas now, and that’s totally dangerous and short-sighted.”
Wu says that Texas has a lot of problems to fix in the state before worrying about matters of national security. “If it’s really a national security concern, create a committee to vet projects,” he said. “We can’t keep our power on. We’re unable to save children in school shootings. And yet we want to dabble in national security.”