Ron DeSantis-backed law barring Chinese from owning land in Florida galvanizes Asian Americans

Wen Raiti, a Chinese American community leader in Jacksonville, Florida, has been a Republican for more than a decade. As a small business owner, she said, the party’s fiscal conservatism and small government ethos resonated with her.

But last May, when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation banning Chinese citizens from buying property in Florida, Raiti changed her party affiliation and began campaigning for local and national Democratic candidates.  

Leading up to Florida’s Aug. 20 primary election, anger toward Senate Bill 264 has turbocharged voter mobilization efforts in the Chinese American community in the state, organizers and elected officials said, pushing conservatives to defect from the GOP while inspiring first-time voters to register and volunteer for Democrats.

“This bill alone helped activate a lot of people in the Chinese American community who historically are not engaged with the government, especially the state government,” said state Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando), who has been an outspoken critic of SB 264.

Eskamani said hundreds of Chinese Americans have traveled to Tallahassee to protest, testify at committee hearings and spearhead fundraising drives. In the dozen years that she’s been in government, she said, “I’ve never seen this kind of presence.”

For Raiti, the law was the “last straw” after all the hostile rhetoric and scapegoating that Republicans have directed at Asian Americans during the Covid-19 pandemic. “It’s in our Constitution to treat everyone with equality and justice so that everyone can live here without fear,” she said. “The Republican Party has abandoned these principles.”

Chinese nationals who buy property could face exorbitant fines and up to five years in prison, and sellers who knowingly violate the restrictions could face up to one year in prison. SB 264 also restricted, but did not ban, land purchases by some citizens of Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria and Venezuela.

In April, a federal appeals court heard a challenge to the law after four Chinese immigrants in Florida, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights groups, sued the state last summer. Advocates say they’re hoping for an injunction ruling. The Justice Department supported the Chinese plaintiffs in a filing last June, but a judge ruled against it.

“After the law passed, we realized that Asian Americans really have no voice,” said Echo King, president of the Florida Asian American Justice Alliance, a nonprofit organization that was established last year to fight anti-Asian discrimination. “We’re contributing to this country, so why are we being targeted?”

Since Asian American political representation in Florida is scarce, King said the FAAJA targeted legislators willing to represent the community. The organization sent out questionnaires to determine which candidates supported issues important to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, she said, and conducted extensive voter registration education in the community. “We’re showing people why it’s so important to vote,” she said. “We are endorsing candidates. We’re seeing lots of people being involved in the community.”

SB 264 has had a noticeable impact on the Chinese American community, King said. Many people have put their house on the market, she said, while others are waiting to see if the law gets overturned before deciding whether to leave the state. An immigration attorney, King said the legislation motivated her to become more involved in the electoral process by running as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. King said at least 25 Chinese American voters changed their affiliations from “no party preference” to Democratic to vote for her.

Raiti said Chinese Americans in Florida do not typically engage with the electoral process beyond issues affecting education and family. “The Chinese community is typically more quiet when it comes to politics,” Raiti said. “This bill changed that dynamic.”

SB 264, crafted to curb “the malign influence of the Chinese Communist Party in the state,” immediately sparked widespread confusion and outrage for discriminatory treatment against Chinese people. Legal experts compared the measure to century-old alien land laws that barred Asian Americans from owning land; Florida was one of the last states to repeal its law, in 2018. Chinese American conservatives have also been subjected to rampant anti-communism, or Red Scare tactics. In June, Bowen Kou, a Republican candidate in a state Senate race, sued Senate Republicans over attack ads that claimed he accepted contributions from Chinese donors linked to the Communist Party. 

While Asians comprise just 3% of Florida’s population, the Asian population in the state has grown by 44% since 2010.

Asian American support for the Republican Party in Florida, Eskamani said, is rooted in the perception that the GOP supports small businesses. Yet “slowly but surely,” she said, registered Republicans in the Asian American community are realizing that the party doesn’t necessarily have their best interests in mind.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

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