Jan. 24, Leo Yu, clinical professor of legal writing, advocacy and research at the SMU Dallas Dedman School of Law, for a piece critical of the proposed SB 147 in Texas, legislation that would ban Chinese (and other) immigrants from owning real property in the state. Published in the Houston Chronicle under the heading Banning Chinese from buying land has a racist past: https://tinyurl.com/4u6sb48s
Last week, I received an urgent email from Dr. Daniel Lee, my colleague from SMU’s biology department. Lee asked me if I was aware that Texas is to ban Chinese immigrants from owning real properties in Texas. Lee, a permanent resident with Chinese citizenship, came to Texas three years ago after finishing his postdoc at Stanford Medical School. He likes Texas for its friendly, warm ambiance. Now, he is questioning his decision.
Lee’s concern is legitimate. Last November, Texas Sen. Lois W. Kolkhorst, R-Brenhan, introduced SB 147, a bill prohibiting entities and citizens of four countries from owning real properties in Texas: China, North Korea, Iran and Russia. Last week, Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted that he would sign this bill into law because it follows a law he signed “banning those countries from threatening our infrastructure.”
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