Even though the bill targets people from multiple nations, the statute imposes harsher punishments for Chinese people. In any transaction with a “foreign principal of China”, the Chinese buyer could face five years in prison and $5,000 in fines; the seller could get a one-year sentence and a $1,000 fine.
Gabriel Chin, a law professor at the University of California, Davis, said this latest trend follows a long history of “alien land laws”. Many federal and state laws used the phrase “aliens ineligible to citizenship”. That was a euphemism, referring to Asians legally entitled to remain in the nation but forbidden to become citizens because they were not white, until a 1952 reform. For example, the 1859 Oregon state constitution protected “white foreigners” who wished to acquire property but prohibited any “Chinaman”.
Florida’s alien land law was only repealed in 2018, making it the last state to do so. Chin led his students in an effort to undo similar laws that remained on the books.
“In Florida, it took a very long time,” he said. “We brought this to the attention of the Florida legislature in 2001,” but “it was a very tricky problem because the [ineligible aliens] provision was in the Florida constitution.”
In regards to the new law, Chin added: “It would be one thing for Florida to provide that only citizens could own land. But for them to pick and choose among favored and disfavored groups is problematic.”
If they are really against “foreign entities” just make a blanket ban against all non citizens. Why pick and choose which specific one?
Now, every time someone wants to sell a house, and they see a buyer with East Asian Appearances or have an “Asian sounding name” They’d be afraid so sell the property fearing violation of law. This can cause sellers to just avoid selling to anyone who “looks Chinese”.