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What are alien land laws?
Alien land laws are legislative efforts to restrict property ownership based on national origin. Since 2023, starting in Texas, state and federal lawmakers have pushed for laws that limit property rights for nationals of certain countries, including Iran. These laws echo discriminatory practices from American history, using national security concerns to justify xenophobia.
What legislation has been proposed about land laws?
Lawmakers across the U.S. have introduced alien land laws targeting people from countries like Iran, China, Russia, and North Korea. According to Asian Americans Advancing Justice, 27 states have introduced these bills, and 11 states have enacted them. In Congress, 10 bills have been introduced or considered.
Examples of recent proposals:
- Texas SB 147: Sought to prevent Iranian citizens and others from owning any type of property in Texas. Public pushback led to the bill being watered down and blocked.
- Florida SB 264: Bars certain nationals from Iran and other nations from buying agricultural land or property near military sites and critical infrastructure. Currently being challenged in a lawsuit.
- Rounds Amendment (Federal): Proposed banning nationals from Iran and other nations from buying large-scale agricultural land nationwide. The bill was dropped from a key defense bill after civil rights groups, including NIAC, opposed it.
Why should Iranian Americans be concerned about these alien land laws?
These laws could directly discriminate against Iranian Americans by restricting their ability to buy property. In some cases, the laws target U.S. citizens, green card holders, and Iranian nationals. If enacted, they could lead to widespread discrimination against our community in the real estate market.
Even when laws do not explicitly target U.S. citizens, labeling Iranian heritage as a security threat can create a slippery slope for further restrictions. This is similar to the progression from visa waiver discrimination to Donald Trump’s Muslim ban.
Who else is warning about alien land laws?
Perhaps the most prominent advocates of civil liberties in the United States – the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) – is deeply involved in the fight against alien land laws. As part of their work, they have supported a lawsuit against Florida’s discriminatory law. You can read their press release applauding a court order that temporarily and partially halted the law’s application. They have also mobilized their members to contact policymakers and oppose alien land laws.
Other civil rights and immigrants rights groups that NIAC has partnered with in addition to ACLU include prominent Asian-American groups like Asian Americans Advancing Justice and National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. NIAC helped pull together a coalition of 100+ state and national groups to reject the Texas land law SB 147. NIAC was also one of the first to sound the alarm on the Rounds amendment, which would restrict at the federal level the right of Iranian nationals and others to purchase large scale agricultural property, helping to lead a letter against the effort signed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Asian Americans Advancing Justice and more. Thanks in large part to this opposition, the amendment was dropped from a must-pass defense bill despite being added to the bill in a Senate vote.
It is not just civil society groups that are concerned about the resurgence of alien land laws. The Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, a critical government agency tasked with defending civil rights in the United States, also weighed in against Florida’s land law through a Statement of Interest. In their statement, submitted in support of the primary legal challenge to the land law, the Department outlined how SB 264 risks violating both the Fair Housing Act as well as the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution through its targeting of individuals based on their national origin.
During a Senate hearing held in September 2023 to discuss foreign ownership of agricultural land, Representative Judy Chu (D-CA), Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), provided a powerful statement for the record on how Congress can approach the issue of foreign ownership of land without normalizing the demonization of immigrant communities. In her statement, Rep. Chu urged Congress to target the foreign governments themselves as opposed to individuals outright. She also encouraged the Senate committee to conduct efforts to study this issue further, given how legislatures have repeatedly drafted this kind of legislation before genuinely understanding the full scope of the issue and how to appropriately address it.
In 2023, Representative Judy Chu, along with Representative Al Green (D-TX), have also introduced the Preemption of Real Property Discrimination Act (H.R. 3697), which would exert federal authority to block all state-level land laws from taking effect.
Why is Iran targeted?
Iran, along with China, Russia, and North Korea, is labeled an adversarial nation. However, under existing laws and regulations, Iranian government actors are already prohibited from buying property in the U.S. Additional restrictions on Iranian nationals provide no real security benefit. Instead, these laws perpetuate the false narrative that people of Iranian descent are a threat.
Most of the lawmakers drafting these bills have focused on the alleged threat that another nation – China – poses to land in the United States. By contrast, China is more deeply linked economically with the United States even as geopolitical tensions have deepened between the superpowers. However, most of the proposed laws target nationals of all adversarial nations, rather than focusing on China alone.
At their root, the laws stem from xenophobic fears of immigrants from adversarial nations holding dual loyalty and undermining American security. They falsely portray individuals of Iranian heritage and other nationalities as serious national security threats. They echo the discriminatory policies of the past, including the notorious alien land laws of the 19th and 20th centuries, that unfairly targeted Asian immigrants based on national origin and blocked them from purchasing property. Those laws were thankfully overturned, but it is now up to us to ensure they do not return in the 21st century.
Could these laws impact me as an Iranian American, Iranian green card holder or Iranian national here on a temporary visa?
Federal law protects against discrimination based on national origin. If you are a U.S. citizen or green card holder, there are no current laws that prevent you from buying property. However, proposals that could limit these rights have been introduced, and ongoing vigilance is needed.
If you are an Iranian national with a visa, you might face restrictions depending on the state. For example, Florida now prohibits certain nationals from buying agricultural land or property near military sites or critical infrastructure. Similar restrictions exist in other states, like Indiana, which bars nationals from adversarial countries from owning property near military installations.
If you believe you have been barred from purchasing property because of your national heritage, we would strongly encourage you to contact our team and seek legal counsel.
Why should I care about these laws as an Iranian American?
The Iranian-American community has thrived under strong civil rights protections. Alien Land Laws threaten to erode those rights by treating Iranian heritage as a security threat. If we allow these restrictions, it opens the door to broader discrimination. History shows us that such policies often lead to harsher laws targeting marginalized groups.
I still don’t think these laws will impact me. Why is NIAC sounding the alarm?
NIAC has been at the forefront of opposing alien land laws. Our advocacy efforts helped block Texas’s SB 147, which would have barred Iranians from buying property. We’ve also worked to secure key exemptions for U.S. citizens and green card holders in legislation proposed in the U.S. Congress at at the state level, while blocking discriminatory bills from advancing. Our work ensures that discriminatory laws don’t gain traction and that our community’s rights are protected.
Aren’t there legitimate security reasons for these bills?
The laws NIAC opposes target individuals based on their nationality, often linked to their place of birth, rather than real security threats. For example, Texas Governor Greg Abbott supported a bill that would ban citizens of China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia from purchasing any land in Texas. This bill raised concerns about civil liberties and was ultimately blocked due to advocacy efforts.
While some of these laws are more narrowly targeted than others, the broader issue is that these laws paint entire nationalities as security threats. This creates an atmosphere of fear and discrimination that we must unite against.
Don’t these laws mainly focus on lands close to military sites and agricultural property?.
While some laws target specific types of property, such as those near military sites or agricultural lands, others impose broader restrictions. Regardless, NIAC opposes any law that imposes special restrictions based on national origin, as even limited restrictions can lead to wider discrimination.
Why did NIAC weigh in on a rule change being implemented by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States?
We don’t seek credit for CFIUS’s actions or its rule change. Our public comment aimed to ensure proper federal reviews and highlight discriminatory state laws that interfere with CFIUS’s work. These alien land laws stem from xenophobia, not real security concerns, and we urged the federal government to consider immigrant communities’ concerns, sharing our efforts with members and the public.
Still have questions or concerns?
If you need more information or legal advice, NIAC is here to help. Reach out to our team, and we can connect you with civil rights attorneys working on these issues.
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