Lawsuit filed against Florida's anti-Chinese law

A lawsuit filed yesterday, May 22, against Florida's new questionable law restricting land purchases by Chinese citizens was not unexpected.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the law May 8 citing security concerns. “Florida is taking action to stand against the United States’ greatest geopolitical threat – the Chinese Communist party,” said DeSantis, who is expected to announce his candidacy for the GOP nomination for US President.

“Xenophobic policies and rhetoric toward China stoke racial bias,” said Bethany Li, AALDEF legal director. “We have repeatedly seen how policies in the name of national security have harmed Asian Americans — from immigration restrictions, to the WWII incarceration of Japanese Americans in camps, and post-9/11 surveillance. Failing to call out the discriminatory impacts means our community will continue to experience racism, violence, and the erosion of rights.”

The plaintiffs include Chinese Floridians Yifan Shen, Zhiming Xu, Xinxi Wang and Yongxin Liu, all citizens of China who are lawfully living in Florida. They are joined by Multi-Choice Realty, LLC, a state real estate brokerage firm with a large Chinese clientele.

FYI: Download a copy of the complaint in Shen v. Simpson here.

Filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida, the lawsuit alleges they "will be forced to cancel purchases of new homes, register their existing properties with the State under threat of severe penalties and face the loss of significant business."

The legislation, due to go into effect on July 1, unfairly restricts most Chinese citizens — and most citizens of Cuba, Venezuela, Syria, Iran, Russia, and North Korea — from purchasing homes in the state. 

The plaintiffs are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Florida, DeHeng Law Offices PC, and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), in coordination with the Chinese American Legal Defense Alliance (CALDA).

The lawsuit argues that SB 264 will codify and expand housing discrimination against people of Asian descent in violation of the Constitution and the Fair Housing Act. It will also cast an undue burden of suspicion on anyone seeking to buy property whose name sounds remotely Asian, Russian, Iranian, Cuban, Venezuelan, or Syrian. 

DeSantis has argued that this law is necessary to protect Florida from the Chinese Communist Party and its activities. But this misguided rationale unfairly equates Chinese people with the actions of their government, and there is no evidence of national security harm resulting from real estate ownership by Chinese people in Florida.

Florida’s dangerous new law recalls similar efforts over the past century to weaponize false claims of “national security” against Asian immigrants and other marginalized communities. In the early 1900s, politicians across the country used similar justifications to pass “alien land laws” prohibiting Chinese and Japanese immigrants from becoming landowners. 

These racist policies not only hurt immigrants financially, but also severely exacerbated violence and discrimination against Asian communities living in the United States. Over time, these laws were struck down by the courts or were repealed by state legislatures because they violated the Constitution’s equal protection guarantees.

“All Asian Americans will feel the stigma and the chilling effect created by this Florida law, just like the discriminatory laws did to our ancestors more than a hundred years ago,” said Clay Zhu, attorney with DeHeng Law Offices PC and co-founder of CALDA. “We shall not go back.”

Over a dozen state legislatures have recently introduced similar legislation, and many of these bills likewise target people from China. Florida’s bill was the first of this wave of legislation to be enacted into law.

“Asian immigrants are part of Florida’s fabric. For hundreds of years, they have contributed to our communities and have made this state their home,” said Daniel Tilley, legal director for the ACLU of Florida. “The discriminatory policies pushed by the DeSantis administration will not go unchecked. The Constitution protects us all.”

“Florida’s discriminatory property law is unfair, unjustified, and unconstitutional,” said Ashley Gorski, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project. “Everyone in the United States is entitled to equal protection under our laws, including citizens of other countries. If SB 264 goes into effect, it will profoundly harm our clients and countless other immigrants in Florida.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter or at his blog Views From the Edge.