The Texas Legislature passed the xenophobic Senate Bill 17, which took effect on Sept. 1, giving the Texas governor the power to determine which countries’ residents can be restricted from owning land in Texas, including organizations that Gov. Greg Abbott deems to be criminal organizations. The move is reflective of the current state of national politics, in which xenophobic rhetoric has taken the form of legislative and political action. 

“Securing Texas land and natural resources and making sure that this precious resource does not fall prey to adversarial nations and oppressive regimes that wish to do us harm,” Texas Representative Cole Hefner said in defense of the bill. 

Any entity or individual in violation of SB17 could face a civil penalty of $250,000 or 50% of their property market value and could even face felony charges. The law associates the individual with the actions and sentiments of their government, which is not reflective of the person’s views, values or beliefs — painting foreigners as inherently adversarial. 

However, foreign land ownership is not a threat to Texas’ economy or security. According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s 2023 annual review, foreign investors from the biggest adversaries — China, Iran, Russia and the Democratic People’s North Korea — accounted for less than 1% of agricultural land held in the U.S. Americans are not suppressed or at a competitive disadvantage by foreign investment. 

SB 17 will do more harm to Texas’ land value than preserve it. The USDA found that states without restrictions on foreign ownership “experienced an above-average growth in agricultural land values,” roughly around 4.6% annually, while states with restrictions experienced below-average growth in land value. In comparison to the rest of the U.S., Texas has a large presence of foreign land ownership, approximately 5.3 million acres owned in foreign ownership; thus, SB 17 presents a clear and present danger to Texas’ economy, especially considering that land value has increased under the presence of noncitizens owning land. 

This xenophobic bill does not simply limit foreign entities but allows for the Texas government to target individuals, primarily affecting Asian land owners who are citizens of another country. Asian investors are one of the biggest landowners in Texas, with Chinese investors owning 123,708 acres in Texas. China is one of the U.S’s biggest adversaries, and with foreign nationals owning large sums of land, Asian landowners will be caught in the crosshairs of this law. 

The law is reminiscent of the Alien Land Laws of the 1960s that, just like SB 17, prohibited land ownership by residents ineligible for citizenship, targeting non-white immigrants. The 1960s law was racially neutral in language, but in practice, it produced gross racial inequality, and SB 17 is no different. The bill is only a variation of a practice that has a long, racist history, except that the rhetoric justifying it is disguised as security. SB 17not only targets U.S. adversaries but creates them out of U.S. citizens born in other nations. 

SB 17 is a regressive policy drenched in xenophobic racism set to limit foreign landownership while curbing foreign investment — a necessity to Texas’ economy. SB 17 will work to create a less diverse economic pool, all because the Texas Legislature is clouded by its own ignorance.