Fact Sheet
On October 9th, 2023, Texas State Senator Lois Kolkhorst (R) introduced S.B. 51 which seeks to completely ban Chinese, Iranian, North Korean, and Russian citizens from purchasing agricultural land in the state. This comes only months after Sen. Kolkhorst introduced a similar bill, S.B. 147, which also sought to discriminate against individuals from these 4 countries and bar them from purchasing agricultural property in the state of Texas.
In 1804, Ohio was the first state to pass legislation permitting non-United States citizens to own land, paving the way for other states to do the same.
Louisiana first passed its own version of an "alien land law" in 1921 which placed land ownership restrictions on those it deemed to be "ineligible to citizenship." This was modeled after California's version, which took effect in 1913.
Florida was unfortunately the last state to repeal its “alien land law” which did not happen until 2018. The language existed in its state Constitution, and it took decades for local Asian American activists to finally repeal it. Just 5 years later, S.B.
This is not the first time Texas has considered a state “alien land law.” In fact, Texas has previously passed three versions of an alien land law in 1891, 1892, and 1921. The last version was formally repealed by the Texas state legislature in 1965. We view any discriminatory land law on non-US individuals to be legally problematic and likely unconstitutional, especially if the law in question is as vague and broad as S.B. 147.
Your Representatives are in office to serve you. Your voice matters, so when you have an opinion on a proposed bill or enacted legislation you should share that with those in charge. Advancing Justice | AAJC has prepared a call script and provided tips on how to talk to staffers on the line.
This fact sheet covers:
- What is anti-Asian hate?
- There is NO evidence to suggest that the main perpetrators of anti-Asian hate are black.
- Why is there an overrepresentation of black perpetrators in the media?
- Become an ally
Full fact sheet available for download.
We stand together with our Black siblings to fight for transformative change to a system that incarcerates, dehumanizes, and oppresses Black Americans. This compilation of resources is a starting point for education, discussion, and how to be effective allies in dismantling white supremacy and anti-blackness.
Full resource available for download.
Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act requires certain counties and jurisdictions to provide bilingual voting assistance in communities with large numbers of language minorities and limited-English proficient (LEP) citizens. Learn more about how to use this tool in our bi-lingual 2022 Section 203 Fact Sheet, available in the "Downloads" dropdown menu above in both English and Bengali, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Hindi, Hmong, Khmer, Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.