A new Texas law banning people, companies or government organizations of certain nationalities from buying or owning property in the state has taken effect despite legal challenges on behalf of the affected countries.
Senate Bill 17 will bar people, companies and government-linked entities connected to China, Iran, North Korea and Russia from acquiring most types of real estate in Texas, including homes, farmland and commercial property. Supporters of the measure have framed it as a vital national security concern, pointing to instances of entities linked to the Chinese government buying up property near sensitive military installations.
Republican State Senator Lois Kolkhorst, who authored the law, called it “the strongest protection national security bill of any state passed,” when first introducing it back in May. “There are people that are agents of those countries and they are buying up some of our strategic assets,” Kolkhorst said. ‘We’re not going to have that anymore.”
The new restrictions extend not just to foreign governments, but to individuals with citizenship, permanent residence or political ties to the affected nations. Individuals living in Texas with student or work visas from the four listed countries will be permitted to buy a single family home for personal use, though they will be barred from buying additional properties.
Kolkhorst introduced similar legislation in 2023, though it failed to pass through the legislative process. This time around, the she believes the bill is much stronger.“To our adversaries that want to do harm to our state and nation: You’re not buying up Texas land,” Kolkhorst said.
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If an individual from one of the listed countries is found to have violated SB17, they could face felony charges with a maximum penalty of two years in jail and up to $10,000 in fines. Companies and organizations could also be sued for up to $250,000, or half the value of the property involved in the violation.
Texas joins 23 additional states in banning foreign citizens from owning or renting land in some capacity. The Lone Star State’s legislation closely mirror’s Florida’s SB264, which limits individuals from the four listed countries, in addition to Cuba, Venezuela and Syria, from owning property.
Two Chinese nationals living in Texas filed a lawsuit aimed at stopping the measure back in July, arguing that it violated their constitutional rights.
“It’s discriminating against Chinese people, it’s discriminating against immigrants,” said Justin Sadowsky, legal director at the Chinese American Legal Defense Alliance and attorney for the plaintiffs.
“It’s not really an issue,” Sadowsky added. “They don’t really care about national security. They do care about looking tough on immigrants, looking tough on China and effectively being harmful towards people that their base see as undesirable or different.”
Proponents at the state and national level have argued that such legislation is necessary for national security purposes, however. According to a 2024 report from the New York Post, individuals or companies linked with the Chinese government have purchased land next to 19 military installations across the United States.
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In introducing similar legislation at the national level, lawmakers listed a number of recent examples of Chinese espionage when introducing the legislation, including one in which a Chinese student was convicted of flying a drone over a naval facility in Newport News, Virginia last year. In Chicago, a Chinese national was recently convicted after being tasked by the CCP to recruit spies to steal advanced technology.
“The Chinese Communist Party is fundamentally opposed to our American values, and yet we have handed out hundreds of thousands of student visas to Chinese nationals, many of whom are state-sponsored spies,” said Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX).
