国会亚太裔小组对多州限制中国公民购买不动产的声明

今年多个州出现了「禁止外国在本州购买土地/不动产」的提案或声音，包括德州 SB147 提案、维吉尼亚州 SB1438、乔治亚州 HB246、田纳西州 HB0040 等；弗罗里达州长 DeSantis 也要求州议会立法禁止中国在弗州购买农地和住宅。

在上述几个法案中，维吉尼亚州 SB1438 针对的是外国政府（foreign government）、不得购买农地（agricultural land）；田纳西州 HB0040 限制的是「如果你国政府不允许美国公民在你国购买不动产，那么你国政府、公司、公民也不能在我州购买土地或不动产，但美国合法永久居民除外」；而德州 SB147 和乔治亚州 HB246 都禁止中国、伊朗、朝鲜、俄罗斯的公民以及他们开设的公司在该州购买不动产 —— 一旦通过，哪怕你是从中国来的合法移民*，只要尚未（来得及）入籍，你、以及你开设的公司，在德州和乔治亚州将无法购买土地和房产。

*注：之前在 Twitter 讨论时，有人说「入籍了才算移民、没入籍只能算是旅居」，这是自己加戏：即使是按照美国移民法，绿卡也是「immigrant」。

2 月 15 日，国会亚太裔小组（Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus; CAPAC）发布声明，包括赵美心（Judy Chu; CA-28）、孟昭文（Grace Meng; NY-06）、Mark Takano (CA-39)、刘云平（Ted Lieu; CA- 36）、Jill Tokuda (HI-02) 等，反对「仅根据原籍国禁止个人拥有土地或财产」。声明全文如下：

「作为 CAPAC 的领导层，我们非常关注限制来自中华人民共和国、俄罗斯、伊朗和朝鲜的移民拥有土地和财产的企图。我们不反对限制外国国有企业或与外国政府有联系的实体、公司或个人购买农业土地或财产，但我们坚决反对任何立法 —— 包括在联邦、州或地方层面 —— 仅根据原籍国禁止个人拥有土地或财产。值此美中紧张局势加剧、我们的国会保持警惕来保护我们的国家和经济安全之际，CAPAC 的领导层将继续发出我们的声音，以确保我们不会侵蚀我们社区中个人的公民自由。

As CAPAC’s leadership, we are incredibly concerned by efforts to restrict ownership of land and property by immigrants from the People’s Republic of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. While we do not oppose limitations on foreign state-owned enterprises, or on entities, companies, or individuals with ties to foreign governments, from making purchases of agricultural land or property, we staunchly object to any legislation—at the federal, state, or local level—that bans an individual from land or property ownership solely based on their country of origin. At this moment of heightened U.S.-China tensions and as we in Congress remain vigilant in protecting our national and economic security, CAPAC’s leadership will continue to raise our voices to ensure that we are not eroding the civil liberties of individuals in our communities.

「我们警惕的是反华恐慌对华人移民社区的影响，以及仅仅因为他们的原籍国就为他们追求美国梦设置不公平的障碍。我们现在疾呼，是因为在我国的历史上我们已经看到过类似的政策：那些针对公民个人的政策与如今针对亚洲移民的仇外土地法案遥相呼应 —— 在 1800 年代，反华情绪在 1882 年的排华法案中达到顶峰；在二战期间，与日本的紧张关系导致日本移民的土地所有权被剥夺、12 万名日裔美国人被监禁。

What alarms us is the impact of anti-China fearmongering on Chinese immigrant communities and the erection of unfair barriers to their pursuit of the American Dream solely because of their country of origin. We speak out now as we have seen policies like this before in our nation’s history. Such policies targeted at individual citizens echo xenophobic alien land laws targeting Asian immigrants—in the 1800s, when anti-Chinese sentiment culminated in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, or during World War II when tensions with Japan led to the stripping of land ownership rights from Japanese immigrants and the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans.

「任何人都不应该因为自己的原籍国而被剥夺在美国建立自己生活的公平机会。我们正面临历史上的关键时刻，当我们考虑我们的行动对华人移民和美国华人社区的影响时，我们敦促我们的同事们，谨慎使用会加深对亚裔社区成员的歧视的言辞或立法。当我们的国家领导人在全球范围内驾驭日益复杂的美中关系时，我们鼓励注意这些细节和清晰的用语，以确保我们本国社区的权利不会受到附带损害。」

No one should be prevented from getting a fair shot at building their lives here in America because of their country of origin. We are facing a pivotal moment in history and as we consider the impacts of our actions on Chinese immigrant and Chinese American communities, we urge our colleagues to be mindful of using rhetoric or writing legislation that would further discriminate against our community members. As our nation’s leaders navigate the increasingly complex U.S.-China relationship globally, we encourage nuance and clarity to ensure the rights of our communities domestically are not collateral damage.

Derek Yang

生于湖南，求学于北京，先后在广东、北京、DC 工作。一代移民，生活在美东小镇。

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