Asian Americans rally outside Texas Capitol as lawmakers move closer to passing land-ban
AUSTIN (Nexstar) -- As the Texas legislature moves one step closer to making it illegal to own land for citizens from China, Iran, Russia and North Korea who are residing illegally in the country, a group of Asian Americans gathered outside the south steps of the Capitol to express their opposition to the bill.
Xiaoyu Wu was one of those people. He is originally from a town north of Shanghai, China, but moved to the the United States 13 years ago to pursue his PhD at the University of Texas at Austin. He now has a green card and is working for a software company in Texas. He calls the bill "unjust."
"Unfairly targeting my people," Wu said outside the Capitol.
A scan across the crowd showed a variety of signs. Some read, "Fair Housing for All," while others said, "Stop Asian Hate," but they all carried the same underlying message: they believe this bill is discriminatory.
"It's foreign threat, it's not foreigner threat," Tao Huang said. She is also from China but moved to the United States 20 years ago to work and eventually raised a family in Austin.
In 2021, the Texas Legislature unanimously passed Senate Bill 2116, preventing China, North Korea, Iran and Russia from connecting to critical Texas infrastructure due to national security concerns.
In 2023, State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, tried to build off the legislation by preventing citizens of the same nations from buying Texas land.
“Texans have raised concerns of national security ranging from energy security to food security,” Kolkhorst wrote in her statement of intent. “Preventing private property rights from being controlled by entities from adversarial nations is key to ensuring national security.”
Wu believes it is not fair to deny someone the right to buy a home in the state because of where they were born. "Why am I assumed that I am a spy or a threat to national security without due process," Wu asked.
State Sen. Matt Shaheen, R-Plano, introduced an amendment to make those who live in the U.S. legally eligible to buy land regardless of nationality. While the amendment passed 120-19, it immediately drew backlash from some conservative activists and lawmakers on social media.
On Friday before the third reading, two attempts were made to undo the controversial Shaheen amendment. Both times the amendments failed because they didn’t receive the two-thirds majority needed to amend a bill on third reading, but both times they received a majority vote.
State Rep. Brent Money, R-Greenville, spoke to his colleagues on the House floor asking them to approve his amendment that would have undo Shaheen's amendment. He pointed out that foreigners can legally be residing in the country on two types of visas -- a nonimmigrant visa and an immigrant visa.
The main difference is a nonimmigrant visa is for someone who does not have the intention to emigrate to the United States. It gives that person the ability to visit the country for an intended purpose for a certain amount of time. An immigrant visa, on the other hand, would be for someone trying to gain permanent resident status in the country.
Money's concern is the Shaheen amendment opened the door for residents in a designated country who are visiting the country the chance to buy land. "I do not think that we should allow someone that the State Department has said can not stay in our country to be able to buy Texas land," Money said.
The bill will most likely go to a conference committee between the Senate and the House to iron out the differences. Money hinted at their being a showdown for the exceptions allowed under the bill.
"I don't believe that those individuals should be able to buy land in Texas, and neither did the House or Senate author of this bill," Money said.