An Asian American advocacy group has sued the state of Florida alleging that a new law is unconstitutional because it outlaws Chinese people who are not US citizens, permanent residents, or whose domicile is in China from buying land statewide.
Shen v. Simpson was filed in the Northern District of Florida Tallahassee Division on May 22 alleging that SB 264 is unconstitutional.
“It applies to anyone who is a Chinese citizen who wants to buy property in Florida,” said Bethany Li, an attorney with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. “There are a lot of professors and people who are students. There is a good number of people impacted. We've been talking to community groups that have been opposing this bill because of the impact on their lives and families.”
SB 264 exempts Chinese people with non-tourist visas or who have been granted asylum and allows them to purchase one residential property under two acres that is not within five miles of a military installation.
“It’s not just civil and criminal penalties against people of Chinese descent and also the seven countries of concern that are identified in the law, but also civil and criminal penalties for all potential sellers of property,” Li told the Florida Record.
The law similarly applies to people from Cuba and Venezuela but in a less restrictive manner. Other foreign countries of concern include the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and the Syrian Arab Republic.
Some 398,041 Chinese students choose to study at American colleges, according to media reports.
However, lawmakers and Gov. DeSantis don’t want them buying properties in Florida if they are not U.S. citizens or domiciled in the U.S.
SB 264 also requires current landowners who are Chinese to register the property with the state.
“This new alien land law is saying, ‘Chinese people please don't come here,’” Li said in an interview. “You don't need a travel advisory to announce it because the state is saying it.”
The NAACP Board of Directors advised black people against traveling to Florida after Gov. DeSantis rejected an Advanced Placement course of study about African American history in public schools.
"Under the leadership of Governor DeSantis, the state of Florida has become hostile to Black Americans and in direct conflict with the democratic ideals that our union was founded upon,” NAACP President & CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement online.
Alien land laws in the U.S. date back to 1913 when the state of California was the first to bar Asian immigrants from owning land.
“This law is creating just mass confusion,” Li added.
DeSantis also signed SB 846 and SB 258 into law. SB 258 requires monitoring of Chinese applications to the Department of Management Services because China allegedly presents a cybersecurity and data privacy risk while SB 846 requires approval from the state before a state college or university can participate in a partnership or agreement with a college or university based in a foreign country of concern.
“We are following through on our commitment to crack down on Communist China,” DeSantis said in a statement online.