This property law is racist and xenophobic. We're fighting back.


Friend –

Over the past two weeks, our attorneys have been filing lawsuit after lawsuit to fight against the surge of attacks on people's most fundamental rights: From the rights and safety of trans people to voting rights to abortion access and beyond.

We will be back with further updates on these urgent fights in the courts soon, but we wanted to uplift one particular breaking lawsuit that our legal teams just filed this week in the state of Florida against yet another harmful ban from Governor DeSantis.

Here's your rundown, ACLU Supporter – and we'll be back with more news tomorrow on the slew of lawsuits we've hustled to file once our attorneys have had a moment to breathe.

The Ban: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis very recently signed into law SB 264. This racist law forbids many immigrants from China, Cuba, Venezuela, Syria, Iran, Russia, and North Korea from buying a home in the state – with very limited exceptions. The law singles out people from China for especially draconian restrictions and harsher criminal penalties. Gov. DeSantis has said that this bill is "necessary to combat the influence of the Chinese Communist Policy in Florida," but he is wrongly equating Chinese people with the Chinese government. This law will not keep Floridians safe. It will upend people's lives and make it far more challenging for immigrants to prosper economically in the state.

Our fight back in court: The ACLU, ACLU of Florida, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and DeHeng Law Offices PC are working together to challenge the Florida law before it goes into effect on Saturday, July 1. The plaintiffs in our case include Chinese citizens who live, work, study, and raise families in Florida, and who will soon be prohibited from purchasing real estate.

Why this is so important nationally: Worryingly, Florida isn't alone. Lawmakers across the country are trying to pass laws to ban Chinese citizens and other immigrants from owning property. Just as states have continued to bring out anti-trans, anti-abortion, and anti-voter legislation in droves this year – despite citizens and public opinion clearly stating the opposite – so too are we seeing similar anti-immigrant and xenophobic bills like this one take shape.

The bottom line, ACLU Supporter, is this: At a time when one in two Asian Americans report feeling unsafe in the U.S. due to their ethnicity – and nearly 80% don't feel they fully belong or are accepted – Florida's leaders have a responsibility to the people who live there to do better.

Until they do, we'll see them in court.

More from our attorneys soon,

The ACLU Team

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