In February 2023, people rallied in the streets in Texas in protest against two of the newly proposed laws. These new laws are called “SB 552” and “SB 147”  but recently made the news because the law is prohibiting “the sale of Texas land to citizens, governments and entities from specific countries from buying property and maintaining businesses in Texas” (texastribune.org). The countries in question are Iran, China, Russia, and North Korea. According to npr.org “if it passes, experts think it would be the first law of its kind since World War II with a blanket ban based on nationality.” 

Although the law in question would ban most people from the four different countries from buying property in Texas, the country most talked about is China. This is probably because out of the countries mentioned above, most of the immigrants come from China. 

Many people spoke out against these proposed laws including: 

Houston Democratic Rep. Gene Wu

“I’m Chinese, but I don’t represent the Chinese government”

Alice Yi, a senior strategy consultant at Asian Texans for Justice

‘ “It would put all people who look like me — any Asians — into third-class citizenship because we’d have to prove our immigration status and where we come from when we want to purchase land or a house,” ’ (texastribune.org). 

Plano City Council member Maria Tu

“I’m here today, not to represent any political position or stance,” Tu said. “I am here because I am Chinese, American, and I’m Texan.” (dallasnews.com)

Wei Wu, 32, recently finished her law degree at Texas A&M University.

‘ “We are here, we pay taxes, we’re here to seek our dreams; we should not be discriminated against.” ‘

Because of the backlash the law received, the law was later changed to appeal to more people. The law was changed so that it would “allow dual citizens and lawful permanent residents of the United States to buy property in Texas” (texastribune.org). According to the State Senator of Texas, Lois Kolkhorst, “the goal of this bill is to legislate common sense safeguards against Russian, North Korean, Chinese, and Iranian authoritarian regimes”.