--- title: Why We're Suing Florida's Racist New Property Law description: Unless the courts act, Florida’s discriminatory land law will go into effect July 1, write Patrick Toomey and Clay Zhu. canonical: https://time.com/6288638/florida-ban-chinese-immigrants-owning-property-suing/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-06-21T10:00:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:44:43.566Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Florida Really Just Banned Chinese Immigrants from Owning Property. We're Suing og:description: Unless the courts act, Florida’s discriminatory land law will go into effect July 1, write Patrick Toomey and Clay Zhu. og:url: https://time.com/6288638/florida-ban-chinese-immigrants-owning-property-suing/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta043d34e74e2d39e/698a3e094ee2621caf31b7da/florida-chinese-property-law.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: florida-chinese-property-law og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Florida Really Just Banned Chinese Immigrants from Owning Property. We're Suing twitter:description: Unless the courts act, Florida’s discriminatory land law will go into effect July 1, write Patrick Toomey and Clay Zhu. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta043d34e74e2d39e/698a3e094ee2621caf31b7da/florida-chinese-property-law.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Florida Really Just Banned Chinese Immigrants from Owning Property. We're Suing > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. Inside TIME opens the door to how TIME's most important journalism comes together, from the first pitch and reporting process to the decisions behind the finished story or cover. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=a66f2fa2-0db3-4679-8d5e-2b6e5bfda5be&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: John Legend Reflects on Trailblazing Performer and Civil Rights Activist Harry Belafonte [Watch (HLS stream): John Legend Reflects on Trailblazing Performer and Civil Rights Activist Harry Belafonte](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Qyj5RYPd.m3u8) (4:11)  _Published 2023-04-25. Artist John Legend Legend candidly reflected on the role Belafonte has played in his life, both personally and professionally at the TIME100 Summit._ by [Patrick Toomey](https://time.com/author/patrick-toomey/) and [Clay Zhu](https://time.com/author/clay-zhu/) Jun 21, 2023 10:00 AM UTC  Protesters stand outside Florida's Capitol on April 29, in opposition to a bill that would ban Chinese people who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents from owning any land or property in the state. Protesters stand outside Florida's Capitol on April 29, in opposition to a bill that would ban Chinese people who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents from owning any land or property in the state. Lawrence Mower—Tampa Bay Times/TNS/ABACA/Reuters by [Patrick Toomey](https://time.com/author/patrick-toomey/) and [Clay Zhu](https://time.com/author/clay-zhu/) Jun 21, 2023 10:00 AM UTC Barring people from buying a house because of where they’re from is unconstitutional and unacceptable. And yet that’s exactly what Florida’s new law attempts to do. On May 8, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis [signed](https://www.aila.org/advo-media/aila-practice-pointers-and-alerts/florida-enacts-law-imposing-significant) SB 264 into law, putting much of Florida off-limits to many Chinese immigrants, including people here lawfully as professors, students, employees, and scientists who are looking to buy a home in the state. The law also unfairly discriminates against many immigrants from Cuba, Venezuela, Syria, Iran, Russia, and North Korea. But it singles out people from China for especially draconian restrictions and harsher criminal penalties. With geopolitical tensions between the United States and Chinese government rising, we’re once again seeing politicians like DeSantis lean into racism, hate, and fear for their own political gain. Florida’s pernicious new law weaponizes false claims of “national security” against Asian immigrants and others. Worryingly, Florida isn’t alone. Lawmakers across the country are trying to enact[ similar laws ](https://urldefense.com/v3/%5F%5Fhttps:/www.nytimes.com/2023/02/07/us/texas-china-ownership-real-estate-ban.html%5F%5F;!!Phyt6w!aXA8QZHlgaOogsOlFINdBG8TMnqAS7jxiR4GQEJaJbKAV89429u0nmQbPTqnaPWnoOkI5vnk%5FvKtOVbDtcsOzA$)to ban Chinese citizens and other immigrants from owning property, but Florida’s is the first one to pass and go into effect. That’s why our organizations and our partners—the ACLU, the Chinese American Legal Defense Alliance, the Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund, and the law firm Quinn Emanuel—are working to challenge Florida’s unconstitutional law in court and have asked a judge to block the law from going into effect on July 1. --- ### More from TIME --- DeSantis has said this bill is necessary to combat the influence of the Chinese Communist Policy in Florida, but he is wrongly equating Chinese people with the Chinese government. This law will not keep Floridians safe. It instead codifies and expands housing discrimination against people of Asian descent—something expressly forbidden by the [Fair Housing Act](https://nationalfairhousing.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2017-02-01%5FFact%5FSheet-Fair%5FHousing%5FLaws%5Fprotect%5Fimmigrants.pdf). It will also put a burden of suspicion on anyone with a name that sounds vaguely Asian (not to mention Russian, Iranian, Cuban, Venezuelan, or Syrian), perpetuating racist stereotypes even more. **_Read More:_**[_What Ron DeSantis’ Florida Agenda Could Mean for America_](https://time.com/6280707/ron-desantis-time-cover/) This is history repeating itself: In the early 20th century, politicians used similar justifications to pass “[alien land laws](https://urldefense.com/v3/%5F%5Fhttps:/content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,716982,00.html%5F%5F;!!Phyt6w!aXA8QZHlgaOogsOlFINdBG8TMnqAS7jxiR4GQEJaJbKAV89429u0nmQbPTqnaPWnoOkI5vnk%5FvKtOVb5KMBzOA$)” in California and more than a dozen other states prohibiting Chinese and Japanese immigrants from becoming landowners. Over time, these laws were struck down by the courts because they violated the Constitution’s equal protection guarantees or [were repealed by state legislatures](https://urldefense.com/v3/%5F%5Fhttps:/www.nytimes.com/1920/12/10/archives/antialien-land-law-is-effective-today-governor-of-california.html%5F%5F;!!Phyt6w!aXA8QZHlgaOogsOlFINdBG8TMnqAS7jxiR4GQEJaJbKAV89429u0nmQbPTqnaPWnoOkI5vnk%5FvKtOVZMAzTEWw$). But not before people were harmed. For instance, in 1915, California’s alien land law forced Japanese immigrants [Jukichi and Ken Harada](https://www.riversideca.gov/museum/haradahouse/) to purchase their family home in the name of their children, who were U.S. citizens. Neighbors were so outraged they tried to pressure the family to sell the house and leave. When they refused, the neighbors sued them in court. Eventually a judge agreed that because the children were U.S. citizens with equal rights under the law, the family was entitled to stay in their home. Although the Harada family won their case, anti-Asian sentiment continued to rise, and 25 years later, they were forced from the same home and into internment camps as part of the [Japanese American incarceration](https://densho.org/learn/introduction/) of World War II. Discriminatory new land laws in Florida and other states around the country could cause immense harm, too. The plaintiffs in our lawsuit are Chinese immigrants who live, work, study, and raise families in Florida—but they will soon be prohibited from purchasing real estate there. Zhiming Xu, is a Chinese citizen who lives in Florida and came to the U.S. after fleeing political persecution in China. Earlier this year, Xu signed a contract to purchase a new home near Orlando, with a closing date of September 2023\. But because of Florida’s law, he will be forced to cancel the contract, putting both his deposit and his dreams for the future in jeopardy. Similarly in Louisiana, high school senior Abigail Hu recently testified against a similar bill being considered there. “This bill tells us that we are not good Americans, we are not Americans deserving of protection under the law, we are not Americans that the legislators we elect care to serve,” [Hu said](https://house.louisiana.gov/H%5FVideo/VideoArchivePlayer?v=house/2023/may/0515%5F23%5FCL). “This bill tells us that we are Americans whose lives are pure political pawns, subject to the whims of the state and condemned to exist under a perpetual instability.” Under Florida’s new law, people who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents, and whose “domicile,” or permanent home, is in China, will be prohibited from purchasing property altogether. (A similar but less restrictive rule would apply to citizens of Cuba, Venezuela, and other “countries of concern.”) The sole exception is incredibly narrow: People with non-tourist visas or who have been granted asylum may purchase one residential property under two acres that is not within five miles of any “military installation.” This term is vaguely defined in the law, but there are at [least 21](https://militarybases.com/florida/) large military bases in Florida, many of them within five miles of cities like Orlando, Miami, and Tampa—putting many major residential and economically-important areas completely off-limits. In addition to imposing economic harms on immigrants and their communities, the law fuels discrimination and xenophobia. When politicians pass laws and engage in rhetoric that stigmatizes Asian communities—like President Trump’s “China virus” claim—[anti-Asian hate crimes](https://urldefense.com/v3/%5F%5Fhttps:/time.com/5947862/anti-asian-attacks-rising-worldwide/%5F%5F;!!Phyt6w!aXA8QZHlgaOogsOlFINdBG8TMnqAS7jxiR4GQEJaJbKAV89429u0nmQbPTqnaPWnoOkI5vnk%5FvKtOVaqg9SjGQ$) ensue. Laws like Florida’s, and similar proposals around the country, raise widespread fears of more harassment and violence. DeSantis and the Florida legislature have sent a clear message: The state believes home ownership by Chinese citizens is a threat to national security. This view is racist and baseless. Just as there was no actual evidence to justify the alien land laws of an earlier era, there is no evidence of any actual national security harm resulting from real estate ownership by Chinese people in Florida. At a time when one in two Asian Americans [report](https://urldefense.com/v3/%5F%5Fhttps:/www.pbs.org/newshour/show/survey-of-asian-americans-paints-sobering-picture-of-fears-about-violence%5F%5F;!!Phyt6w!aXA8QZHlgaOogsOlFINdBG8TMnqAS7jxiR4GQEJaJbKAV89429u0nmQbPTqnaPWnoOkI5vnk%5FvKtOVasrPpC2Q$) feeling unsafe in the U.S. due to their ethnicity and nearly 80% don’t feel they fully belong or are accepted, Florida’s leaders have a responsibility to the people who live there to do better. Until they do, we’ll see them in court. ## Transcript So I unfortunate that start with some sad news as you know, but as I'm not sure everybody else knows. I we just got the sad news that Harry Belafonte has died. And so I want it, I want to give you a moment to tell us what your reaction to that news was and how other artists can carry on his legacy God that we had Harry Belafonte for 96 years. He Inspired me so much. Personally he became a friend of mine in the last 10 years or so we spend some private time together. I learned At His Feet basically about all the great work, he's done over the years and if you think about what it means to be an artist and an activist, he was literally the epitome of what that was and I don't know if people know how much he did. So Gifted as an artist as a performer, but used his platform and almost a subversive way because he would sneak messages in their revolutionary messages. When people just thought he was singing about, Good Times in the islands, he was always like infusing messages of protest and Revolution and everything you did. And not only that, but he used his resources, he's one of the most successful artists of his time. He used those resources to fund the Civil Rights Movement. He would show up with bags of cash for dr. Martin Luther King jr. And other people who were marching with him. When people's lives are being taken for support, that movement, entertainers, lies were being taken activist lives were being taken, Jewish. Northerners would come down to the South and help with the movement and they would get killed. There were so many people who put their lives on the line for us to be able to vote for us to be able to have equal rights in this country and Mr. Bellefonte was one of those people. He saw a lot of his friends get killed. He gave so much live through so much helped us grow as a nation and as a world and we just all should be so grateful that he lived such a long powerful revolutionary life. So that leads us into something. I was planning to ask you about anyway, which is what do you think, is the role of Music in the fight for social justice today? I mean, who do you think will be remembered in fifty or sixty years? The way we remember Harry Belafonte today, we have the power to create art. That shines a light on what's happening in the world Nina Simone said, we have a duty to reflect the times in, which we live, and I believe great artists are able to do that. We're able to tell the stories I write the songs. Highlight the issues that will make the world pay attention. And I think art can do it in a Transcendent way. It's not the same as journalism is not the same as other forms of of kind of nonfiction media. It has the power to bring people together transcend boundaries and I think if we use that power for good, it can be really really important. And like I said, Harry Belafonte did it in his art but he also did it with his resources, put his life on the line. Was a great adviser great leader of protest. 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