SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Asian American community is weighing in after a state Senate bill that would bar people from four foreign countries from owning farmland and mineral rights in Texas was sent to the state House for a vote.
Texas Senate Bill 147 would ban Chinese, Russians, Iranians and North Koreans from owning farmland, timberland and fossil fuel rights in the state.
The bill’s author, Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, said the legislation is meant to protect the “national security of the U.S.”
“I bring this bill before you as a liberty lover and someone who wants to protect our food security, our mineral security and the future of our great state,” she previously said on the Senate floor.
Some members of the Asian community in San Antonio and across the nation call it a racist bill.
Samantha Nguyen, president of the Asian Real Estate Association of America San Antonio, said she couldn’t believe this was happening.
“It is just mind-boggling that at this time in the age of 2023, that we are discriminating a race, a person, due to their origins. And yeah, it is not OK. It is not OK in any standard,” Nguyen said.
Yen Yan, past president of the Asian Real Estate Association of America San Antonio, said the bill creates fear in her community, and property owners wonder if they will have to give up their lands. She said the bill goes against federal fair housing guidelines.
“I have to ask somebody, ‘Let me see your passport before I show you land -- before you can even look at land?’” questioned Yan.
Ojas Tasker, a board member of the Asian Real Estate Association of America San Antonio, said the rise in hate crimes against Asians would only increase if this bill passes.
“The consequences of this bill will be an increase in violence against Americans. How is that national security?” she said.
The bill will now head to the House for a review and vote. Gov. Greg Abbott has said he would sign the bill if it reaches his desk.