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Federal appeals court narrowly blocks controversial Florida law barring Chinese land ownership (www.politico.com)

submitted 10 months ago by MicroWave to c/news

20 comments fedilink hide all child comments

“This prohibition blatantly violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s protection against discrimination,” Judge Nancy Abudu wrote.

A federal appeals court blocked a controversial Florida law restricting Chinese citizens from buying land from being enforced against two people who sued the state, with one judge saying the law “blatantly violates” protections against discrimination.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta on Thursday said the Chinese immigrant plaintiffs, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, have shown a “substantial likelihood of success” in proving their case against the 2023 state law championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

One of the appeals court judges, Nancy Abudu, a former civil rights lawyer appointed by President Joe Biden, said the anti-Chinese statements of Florida officials about the legislation “establish that the law is a blanket ban against Chinese non-citizens from purchasing land within the state.”

“This prohibition blatantly violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s protection against discrimination,” Abudu wrote.

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[–] [email protected] 38 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It simply makes no sense that it only blocks Chinese citizens specifically.

I don't want anyone to buy/own housing which goes uninhabited for a long time while there are so many homeless people who need a place to call home.

It's difficult to imagine a person struggling to buy/rent an apartment/house, and for them to get mad about nationalities, rather than the fact that housing needs to be an "investment opportunity" over being recognized as the basic human need that it really is.

I hardly care if it's Chinese people, Wallstreet, some Big Tech corporation, or just individual landlords driving up prices.

Housing must be accessible to all people, if a society wants to call itself civilized.

This bill going against Chinese citizens, rather than all foreigners tells you all you need to know about the real motivations behind it.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I think it's because Chinese people specifically hold a lot of real estate investments globally. With foreign-owned AirBnB a problem in many major metros, it's a problem that does need to be addressed. I suspect the issue is that they wanted to address it but still allow, you know, wealthy white investors, so they made it about nationality rather than other factors.

So yes, the law is a good idea but needs to be applied globally rather than targeting a specific ethnicity.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Yes, basically agree.

But I just think it's kind of obvious why they only block one ethnicity, I believe protecting consumers was only the second priority here.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Exactly why should citizens of China, or any other country, be able to buy up land in the US?

[–] surewhynotlem 20 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It's a poorly written law that targets a single group. It's racist. That makes it stupid.

I would love if we prevented all foreign nationals from ownership of scarce local resources over a certain amount. There's no reason to target the Chinese but let Canadians do the same thing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

I was in no way defending the law in question. As for the rest we agree as far as I can tell.

[–] dhork 19 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

It's because it targets Chinese people in particular (and, by extension , anyone who "looks" Chinese). It says that Chinese people need to be here "lawfully" and "domiciled" in Florida in order to buy property over a certain amount. But who gets to decide the burden of sufficient proof?

For that matter, who gets to decide who is "Chinese" enough for this provision? Just recently Sen. Cotton refused to give up on the idea that a tech executive from Singapore was somehow a puppet of the Chinese Government. This act is really a way for Florida officials (who may not be as smart as Sen. Cotton, after all) to discriminate against anyone who looks remotely Chinese. Even people who were born here, have no heritage from China, and have never been to China will need to bring their passport to closing to prove they're not covered by this, if they look vaguely Asian. (Although I bet Saudis won't get interrogated, even if they are technically Asian and their government is just as repressive as China's.)

If you want to ban foreign investment in real estate in the US, do it for everyone. Don't ban certain groups and not others.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That's what I'm saying. I don't care if you're Chinese, German, Brazilian or fucking Martian. US land should not be titled to anyone but US citizens. Likewise corporations should be banned from owning anything other than commercial zoned property. Both of these things should be federal law. This should in no way be considered a state's matter.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Everything is for sale here

[–] afraid_of_zombies -1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Why should they not? Do you check the citizenship for buyers of other products?

[–] Misconduct 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Are other products millions of homes that sit empty while we're in a housing crisis? No, so that's not a valid argument is it? It's ridiculous that some jackass in Canada or China or where tf ever can own a whole house here and never step foot inside of it.

[–] afraid_of_zombies -2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Build more homes. Don't complain about someone conning a rigged system, complain about the system that is rigged.

Also you are being hyperbolic. You are citing the worst example as if it were typical. Chances are you know P.R.s who don't have citizenship yet. Are people who have been legally living here for who knows how many years not allowed to own property? And what about inheritance?

[–] Misconduct 0 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I mean, if you're the type to bend over and take it because the system is rigged just say that next time.

[–] afraid_of_zombies -1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

If you mean I don't support your legalized anti-asian bigotry then yes.

Hey so if land is bought by someone who is a P.R. and that person becomes a citizen does the land ownership become a non-ass rape instantly or does it propagate at under the speed of light or does it vary as a function of the density of the medium? What if a citizen who has spent 99.9% of their life abroad buys the land is it contaminated or not? If so what exactly is the line? If a 50 year old citizen who spent 26 years of their life abroad buys the land does it become less haunted then if a 24 year old + 1 day bought it (who had never been abroad)? How many units of haunting does land have? Do you have a NIST certified measuring tool?

I want to know exactly how the land is altered based on the piece of paper of the owner. If we are going to be bigoted let's at least be pseudoscientific about it.

[–] Misconduct -1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

I don't support what they tried to do in Florida and nothing I said indicates otherwise. I don't waste time on people like you anymore. I thought we left this childish bullshit behind on reddit but I guess not. Go waste someone else's time with your intillectually dishonest ranting.

Absoutely nobody is talking about the braindead theoretical situation that you're pushing. People that don't live here/aren't citizens shouldn't be able to own homes and keep them empty for years. Period. Draw whatever inane conclusions you need to in order to digest that because I'm done with you.

[–] afraid_of_zombies 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Don't let the door hit your bigoted ass on the way out

[–] Misconduct 0 points 9 months ago

🙄

[–] afraid_of_zombies 2 points 10 months ago

Oh look Florida did something bigoted again