#216 Florida Land Law Condemned; Anti-Chinese Immigrant Smears; NIH Hearing/Draft Policy; +

In This Issue #216

·       Krishnamoorthi Condemns Unfair Targeting of PRC Nationals by Florida Land Ownership Law

·       How Florida Land Law Has Affected Buyers and Real Estate Agents

·       Nebraska Governor Dismisses Reporter as Being "from Communist China"

·       NIH Director Hearing and Draft Scientific Integrity Policy for Public Comment

·       News and Activities for the Communities

Krishnamoorthi Condemns Unfair Targeting of PRC Nationals by Florida Land Ownership Law

On October 20, 2023, Raja Krishnamoorti, Ranking Member of the House Select Committee on The CCP, issued a statement following reports of PRC (People's Republic of China) nationals being unfairly targeted for attempting to become homeowners in the state of Florida due to a recent law signed by Governor Ron DeSantis. Florida’s Senate Bill 264 would prohibit individuals who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents and whose “domicile” is in the PRC from owning or purchasing any real property. Earlier this year, the Department of Justice, in commenting on the extreme nature of the law, stated that it would, “cause serious harm to people simply because of their national origin, contravene federal civil rights laws, undermine constitutional rights, and will not advance the state’s purported goal of increasing public safety.”“A law preventing grandparents from purchasing a home close to their grandchildren so they can spend time with family does nothing to make America more secure or more competitive against the Chinese Communist Party. The implementation of Florida’s law is ambiguous, unclear, and opens the door for discrimination against all AAPI homebuyers. America has an unfortunate history of actions targeting the AAPI community’s ability to own land; it’s a history we should learn from and seek to not repeat. Protecting the rights of individuals simply attempting to achieve the American Dream should be a bipartisan priority. Florida should repeal this law and Congress should explore actions to ensure the rights of all are fairly protected.”

How Florida Land Law Has Affected Buyers and Real Estate Agents

According to NBC News, three months after Florida banned many Chinese citizens from owning property, some real estate agents say they are losing business as families across the state are walking away from deals, while some brokers say they feel forced to racially profile people and turn down business.

Longtime Florida resident Kristen Zhang was thrilled when last year her parents in China decided to buy a new house nearby, built from the ground up, in Orlando. After being separated during the pandemic, they’d finally be able to spend time with their grandkids.  But in May Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bipartisan law, SB 264, banning certain Chinese nationals from buying property in the state to counter “the malign influence of the Chinese Communist Party in the state of Florida.”  Zhang’s parents had to abandon their plans this summer, finally canceling the contract last month.A group of Chinese immigrants, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights groups, have been pushing to invalidate the new law. The Justice Department backed their effort in a filing this summer, saying the measure is unconstitutional, but a judge ruled against the challenge in August, teeing up an appeal. Chinese buyers and Florida real estate agents say the law is ambiguous and has introduced confusion and a growing risk of discrimination. Sellers who knowingly violate the restrictions could face up to one year in prison and $1,000 in fines, and Chinese nationals who buy property in Florida face even higher potential fines and up to five years in prison.Frank Lin, a veteran Florida real estate agent who works mainly with Chinese buyers in both the United States and overseas, said his business has already been cut in half as he turns down clients and tries to comply with the law.  In addition to limits on new homebuyers, Chinese nationals who already own property in Florida are required by the new law to register with the state’s Commerce Department, “but they don’t even have a form yet or place or website, so that’s confused everyone,” Lin said. Failure to register by 2024 could trigger fines of up to $1,000 a day.

Many in the Asian American community argue that the Florida law resembles xenophobic “alien land laws” of the early 20th century that were later deemed unconstitutional. Enacted in the decades following the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the measures — passed in places from California to Texas and Wyoming — were tailored to keep Asian immigrants in particular from owning land. Florida didn’t repeal its own version, from 1926, until 2018, a decade after an earlier attempt failed.The state’s new restrictions cover both commercial and residential property. They apply to Chinese nationals who aren’t U.S. citizens or permanent residents and already have primary homes in China.  The law also restricts buyers from a handful of other “foreign countries of concern,” including Cuba and Venezuela, but doesn’t outright ban them. The penalties for both buyers and sellers from those two countries are lower: 60 days in prison and a $500 fine.Some Florida real estate agents say the law compels them to vet potential clients in unrealistic and uncomfortable ways.“If somebody comes in and is Asian-looking, you’re automatically going to start asking questions about where you’re from, which never used to happen,” said Khalid Muneer, founder of Jupiter Properties in Central Florida and president of the Greater Orlando chapter of the Asian American Realtors Association.  “Is this racism? Is this stereotyping? We are very well aware of the fact that we can have issues. We can be accused of discrimination,” Muneer said. Some of his associates with heavily Chinese or Venezuelan clienteles have seen a “major, major drop in business,” he said.  "Are we supposed to be FBI agents investigating people and asking them all kinds of questions?”

Florida received 23% of all foreign buyers nationwide, a higher share than any other state, according to the National Association of Realtors. And five percent of Florida’s closed sales were to foreign buyers, according to a separate report from Florida Realtors. However, the bulk of Florida’s foreign buyers are Latin American, at 46%, and Canadian, at 24%. Among Chinese buyers, California is the most popular destination, drawing 33% of Chinese buyers to Florida’s 16%.After losing their case in August, the group of Chinese immigrants, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights groups, that had sued to block the law filed an appeal, arguing that the measure uses “obvious proxies” to discriminate.  “The law is upending peoples’ lives,” said Patrick Toomey, deputy director of the ACLU National Security Project, “and making it far more challenging for immigrants to prosper economically in the state.”Read the NBC News report: https://nbcnews.to/492fdIM

1.  Arkansas orders Chinese company’s subsidiary to divest itself of agricultural land

According to AP, Arkansas ordered the subsidiary of a Chinese-owned company to divest itself of 160 acres of agricultural land, the first such action under a wave of new laws across the country restricting foreign ownership of farmland.Attorney General Tim Griffin said Northrup King Seed Co. has two years to divest the property in Craighead County under legislation passed by the majority-Republican Legislature and signed by GOP Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders earlier this year.  Northrup is a subsidiary of Syngenta Seeds, which is owned by China National Chemical Company, or ChemChina, a Chinese state-owned company.

Syngenta said it was disappointed in the state’s decision about its land, which the company has owned since 1988. The company said no one from China has ever directed its executives to buy, lease or otherwise engage in land acquisition.  “Our people in Arkansas are Americans led by Americans who care deeply about serving Arkansas farmers. This action hurts Arkansas farmers more than anyone else,” the company said.Concern has been growing in many states about foreign ownership of farmland. Prior to this year, 14 states had laws prohibiting or restricting foreign ownership and investments in private farmland. But that ballooned to 24 states this year as lawmakers in nearly three-quarters of states considered legislation on the topic, according to The National Agriculture Law Center at the University of Arkansas.  The enforcement action by Arkansas’ attorney general is the first under the wave of new laws, many of which specifically targeted investments from China, Iran, North Korea and Russia, said Micah Brown, a staff attorney at the agricultural law center.Read the AP report: https://bit.ly/3FoQsJ1

2.  What foreign interests control Nebraska farmland?

According to Farm Progress on October 18, 2023, about 1.6% of Nebraska land is controlled by foreign interests.  Canada is the largest foreign holder of land in the state.China is far down the list of known entities with only 19 acres in the name of Syngenta, owned by ChemChina, in Hamilton County.On the U.S. national foreign investor list, China is 18th with 194,772 acres. Canada tops the national list with over 9.6 million acres, followed by the Netherlands with 4.377 million acres and Italy with 2.609 million acres — with the United Kingdom and Portugal rounding out the top five.Read the Farm Progress report: https://bit.ly/45HF4T6

3.  Texas SB51/HB124 and Latest Tracking Map and Bills

Although the 2023 Texas legislative session ended on May 29, Governor Greg Abbott has called three special sessions and the third is still ongoing.  On October 9, 2023, Texas State Senator Lois Kolkhorst introduced Senate Bill (SB) 51; a companion House Bill (HB) 124 sponsored by State Rep. Steve Toth was introduced two days later on October 11.  SB51 is a reincarnation of SB147 which failed to become law in this year's legislative session.  According to Advancing Justice | AAJC, the state laws may be further categorized into Agricultural Land (AL), Critical Infrastructure (CI), Real Property (RP), or a combination. APA Justice tracks the alien land laws with a map and a list of all known state bills and laws at https://bit.ly/43oJ0YI.  

Nebraska Governor Dismisses Reporter as Being "from Communist China"

According to NBC News on October 18, 2023, a reporter of Chinese descent is speaking out, weeks after Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen dismissed her article on his company, Pillen Family Farms, because “the author is from Communist China.” Yanqi Xu, 27, who is an immigrant from China and reports for the independent outlet Flatwater Free Press, told NBC News that Pillen's comments were a form of “bias.” Pillen, a Republican, had made the remarks on Omaha radio station KFAB in September, after he was asked to respond to her article that found high levels of nitrate on his hog farms. “Number 1, I didn’t read it. And I won’t,” Pillen said on the air about Xu’s article. “Number 2, all you got to do is look at the author. The author is from Communist China. What more do you need to know?”

With Xu’s blessing and after consulting with immigration lawyers to ensure her visa status wouldn’t be compromised — Matt Wynn, executive director of the Nebraska Journalism Trust, which launched the Flatwater Free Press, published a column in her defense. “Yanqi has been in the United States since 2017 … This, she said, is the first time anyone has written her off based on her origin. And it was broadcast, over the air, by the governor of Nebraska,” Wynn wrote. “As an employer, that infuriates me. As a believer in democracy and a free press, it saddens me. As a Nebraskan, it embarrasses me.” “I think it’s important to speak up and it can be really, really hard at first because in some ways, it made you the center of the story,” Xu said. “Especially as a woman of color, if the other person who made such a comment about you is the most powerful person in the state, how do you respond? But I think for me, I found myself coming back to this point of: If I don’t do it, who would? ... I think it’s also super important for other Chinese Americans or other Chinese immigrants to understand that our newsroom thinks it’s not right for the governor to say something like this.”“The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) stands with Yanqi Xu, the Flatwater Free Press journalist who was the target of remarks that attempted to dismiss her reporting because of her country of origin,” the AAJA said in a statement. “Having an independent and diverse press corps is essential to democracy, and Xu, an investigative reporter who grew up in China, deserves to do her job without being judged because of her nationality.”Rep. Judy Chu, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, condemned Pillen, describing his remarks as a "baseless xenophobic attack." She called on him to apologize to Xu and her outlet.  "Failing to do so only contributes to more hostility and suspicion of people from China and Asian Americans broadly,” Chu said.

Read the NBC News report: https://nbcnews.to/3Ql8wtYAccording to AP on October 19, 2023, tweets have flooded in, offering Xu support as the column began to circulate, and she said she was “deeply, deeply moved.”Among those tweeting was Omaha Sen. Megan Hunt who called the governor’s remark “Racist and disgusting.” Omaha Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh retweeted the rebuke and chastised the governor in a phone interview.Asian Americans have increasingly been the target of racially motivated harassment and assaults in recent years, particularly since the coronavirus pandemic began, with many worrying that anti-Asian rhetoric linked to fraught relations between the U.S. and China could lead to more violence.With the pandemic raging, CNN reporter Natasha Chen went on the air to describe how a Florida beachgoer told her to get out of the country and that she was responsible because of her ethnicity.U.S. reporters also have been singled out. In 2020, Weijia Jiang of CBS News asked President Donald Trump a question about the pandemic. Trump said that “maybe that’s a question you should ask China. Don’t ask me. Ask China that question.”  Jiang — who was born in Xiamen, China, and emigrated with her family to West Virginia when she was 2 — wondered why the president directed that remark to her. Trump said he would say it to “anyone who asks a nasty question.”

Naomi Tacuyan Underwood, executive director of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA), described what happened to Xu in an interview as another example of how “people always resort to the perpetual foreigner trope and question our loyalties.”  AAJA issued a statement that it stands with Flatwater Free Press journalist Yanqi Xu, who was the target of comments about her nationality.Read the AP report: https://bit.ly/45AwllL

1.  ‘My comments were my comments’: Gov. Pillen responds to criticism of ‘outright racist’ remarks

According to Nebraska Examiner, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen on October 20 addressed for the first time national criticism he has faced after dismissing a Chinese reporter’s work because of her nationality.  During his appearance with KFAB, Pillen said Nebraska is the “most welcoming” state in the nation. National and local groups have since said that notion is undermined by Pillen’s remarks.“The opportunity is still there for an apology,” Matt Wynn, executive director of the Nebraska Journalism Trust, said. “I think it is the right and decent thing to do.”Read the Nebraska Examiner report: https://bit.ly/3FoIKyq

2.  Conservative group smears a Chinese immigrant running for office

According to Northwest Asian Weekly, an email implying that a candidate for the Newcastle City Council is a “member of the Chinese Communist Party” was denounced by civil rights groups as drawing upon a history of anti-Asian and anti-immigrant rhetoric and violence. It was considered particularly incendiary since anti-Asian hate speech has preceded and spilled over into violence against Asians and Asian Americans during the pandemic.Newcastle is 53% populated by residents of color and 34% by Asians.

“A racist, red-baiting, anti-immigrant, anti-Chinese email was recently sent out by a group calling themselves the Newcastle Watchdogs. In it, these ‘watchdogs’ attack Sun Burford, candidate for Newcastle City Council, using innuendo, insinuation, and libelous statements to demean and discredit her in the eyes of Newcastle voters,” said Stanley N. Shikuma, co-president of the Japanese American Citizens League, Seattle Chapter. “They would have us believe that she is part of some sinister Chinese plot to infiltrate the Newcastle City Council. They play upon her status as an immigrant, her ethnicity, and current rivalries with China to appeal to old prejudices and stir up new fears.”Newcastle Watchdogs, a conservative organization co-founded by a former Newcastle city councilmember, branded Burford a Chinese Communist sleeper agent—because she held a city planning job in China three decades ago before immigrating to the United States, a position she disclosed in her city planning application.OCA–Asian Pacific American Advocates—Greater Seattle Chapter repudiated the smear.  “For centuries, Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders have been labeled as ‘perpetual foreigners,’ and accused of dual loyalty to their ancestral country and United States—often used as a scare tactic against our community,” said Connie So, president. “The language that our leaders use is important. Following this week’s report of anti-China language being used in a local election, we demand that all candidates refrain from using harmful rhetoric that is based on an individuals’ race as a political tactic. Elections should be about issues, not unfounded personal attacks. Period.”Read the Northwest Asian Weekly report: https://bit.ly/49eOkS3

NIH Director Hearing and Draft Scientific Integrity Policy for Public Comment

According to Nature, the Senate hearing on the nomination of Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) highlighted the politicization of science in the wake of the COVID pandemic. The nominee, Monica Bertagnolli, hinted during the hearing what her priorities will be for the biomedical agency if she is confirmed.  At the top of the list is improving the diversity of clinical-trial participants, enhancing collaboration among the NIH’s 27 institutes and centers, and restoring public trust in scientists and the agency.The 2-hour confirmation hearing on October 18, 2023, comes nearly two years after the NIH’s former director, geneticist Francis Collins, stepped down following more than 12 years in the top role. (Lawrence Tabak has been serving as acting director in the interim.) In May 2023, President Joe Biden nominated Bertagnolli, who is the current head of the US National Cancer Institute (NCI), to lead the NIH.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the NIH typically saw yearly budget increases and enjoyed bipartisan support for its mission. The hearing made clear how politically charged the agency’s research portfolio has become since then, underscoring challenges that Bertagnolli might face as director of the sprawling agency, which is the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world, with an annual budget of about US$47 billion.During the COVID-19 pandemic, after some Republican lawmakers made unsubstantiated claims that the NIH’s funding of coronavirus research in China could have played a part in causing the worldwide crisis. Their colleagues in the US House of Representatives have been holding hearings about the origins of the virus that have scrutinized Collins and the former head of the NIH’s infectious-diseases branch, Anthony Fauci.On March 23, 2023, Science published "Pall of Suspicion," detailing NIH’s “China Initiative” led by Michael Lauer that has upended hundreds of lives and destroyed scores of academic careers.The committee will meet again on Wednesday, October 25, to decide whether to advance Bertagnolli’s nomination to a full Senate vote.  The full Senate is expected to vote on the nomination before the end of the year. Read the Nature report: https://go.nature.com/46CZT3p.  Watch the hearing and read Dr. Bertagnolli's written testimony at: https://bit.ly/48WSbTE

NIH Draft Scientific Integrity Policy for Public Comment 

NIH has developed a DRAFT Scientific Integrity Policy, and seeks information regarding the draft policy from all interested individuals and communities, including, but not limited to, investigators, research institutions, libraries, scientific societies, healthcare providers, patients, students, educators, research participants, and other members of the public.While comments are welcome on all elements of the DRAFT NIH Scientific Integrity Policy, input would be most welcome on the specific items identified below, as they represent additions to existing NIH scientific integrity practices:  

· Role and Responsibilities of the NIH Scientific Integrity Officer (SIO)  

· Role and Responsibilities of the NIH Chief Scientist (CS) 

· Responsibilities of the NIH Scientific Integrity Council 

· Prohibitions against Political Interference 

Read the DRAFT NIH Scientific Integrity Policy: https://bit.ly/403HvOZ.  Read the Federal Register notice for additional information: https://bit.ly/3Q4fKkF.Send your comments to NIH here: https://bit.ly/3Qtdo0b

News and Activities for the Communities

APA Justice Community Calendar

Upcoming Events:

• 2023/10/25-26 President's Advisory Commission Meeting

• 2023/10/25 Senate Hearing on Nomination of NIH Director

• 2023/10/29 Rep. Gene Wu's Weekly Town Hall Meeting

• 2023/11/05 Rep. Gene Wu's Weekly Town Hall Meeting

• 2023/11/06 APA Justice November 2023 Monthly Meeting

• 2023/11/11 ACP 2023 MetroCon

• Visit https://bit.ly/45KGyga for event details.