Florida law barring Chinese citizens from owning property in state blocked by US court

An American federal appeal court on Thursday suspended enforcement of a Florida law banning Chinese citizens from owning homes and land in the state.

The Atlanta-based 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals said the law, SB 264, which Florida enacted last year, specifically targets people of Chinese descent.

The court’s decision relied on statements made by Governor Ron DeSantis and other public officials in the state at the time the legislation was passed.

The appeal court on Friday said the Florida governor’s office issued a press release when the law was passed saying the state was “following through on [its] commitment to crack down on Communist China”.

Neither DeSantis nor Ashley Moody, Florida’s attorney general, could be reached immediately for comment on the ruling.

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The court agreed.

“The statute’s language, the anti-Chinese statements from Florida’s public officials and SB 264’s impact establish that the law is a blanket ban against Chinese non-citizens from purchasing land within the state,” according to Friday’s ruling.

“This prohibition blatantly violates the 14th Amendment’s protection against discrimination.”

The preliminary injunction will apply to the two individual plaintiffs challenging the law because “their recent and pending transactions create the most imminent risk of irreparable harm in the absence of a stay”, the court said.

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The motion for a preliminary injunction was denied.

Bethany Li, legal director of the Asian American Legal Defence and Education Fund, one of the groups representing the plaintiffs, said Florida’s ban violated the US Constitution by targeting Chinese citizens.

The ruling “should serve as a warning to other states who are considering passing similarly racist bills, steeped in a history when Asians were ineligible for citizenship and were told they didn’t belong”, said Li.

Legislators in several states led by Republicans, including Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama, are contemplating similar limitations on property ownership by Chinese citizens. China criticised the measure in February last year.

“Generalising the concept of national security and politicising economic, trade and investment issues violates the rules of [a] market economy and international trade rules,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning at the time.