Fight to Stop Real Estate Ban on Chinese Americans

A Call for Action: Donations Needed to Fight Legislation Banning Chinese Americans from Purchasing Real Properties in Several States

Are Chinese Americans a threat to the national security of the U.S.?

Are Chinese Americans presumed to be spies and agents of the Chinese government?

Should Chinese Americans and their children be treated as second-class because of their race and national origin?

The state legislatures in Texas, Georgia, and Florida have answered “yes.”

In recent months, Republican extremists controlling the legislatures of these three states have proposed bills prohibiting Chinese Americans from buying or owning real properties. The language in these bills is somewhat different, but the legislators are not shy about their intentions. They consider China the adversary of the United States and believe that we must prohibit the Chinese government, its controlled entities, and all Chinese people from becoming property owners in their states in order to protect this country’s national security.

The term “Chinese people” is broad. These bills are trying to target Chinese Americans who have lived in this country for many years with green cards or long-term visas as well as new immigrants with short-term visas such as international students. These bills are outright racist. When the tide of racism is rising, no one is safe. Regardless of citizenship, the emboldening of racism can cause any Chinese American or Asian American to become a victim of verbal abuse or deadly violence – our memory of such attacks is still fresh. Many Asian Americans were attacked after President Trump zealously promoted the idea of the “China virus” and other forms of racial hatred three years ago.

These bills run afoul of both the U.S. Constitution and our country’s fundamental values. The Fourteenth Amendment demands that everyone – regardless of race, national origin, language, or religious belief – enjoy the “Equal Protection” of the law. America is a country made of immigrants from every corner of the world, and we Chinese Americans are entitled to the same freedom from fear and discrimination.

Lawmakers in Texas, Georgia, and Florida are treating Chinese Americans as if they are representatives of the Chinese government. They are taking legislative actions that promote the idea that Chinese Americans are a threat to this country. This type of fearmongering will only fan the flames of bias and prejudice. If we do not stop laws like these, racial hatred will quickly run rife and Chinese Americans will soon have no place in this country.

This is not an exaggeration. The policies that these states are trying to implement are nothing new. You do not have to look far into history to remember the infamous Chinese Exclusion Act. Merely one hundred years ago, many states like Texas and California adopted laws that discriminated against the first generation of Chinese immigrants, including provisions that prohibited them from owning land. After decades of fighting by our pioneers, these laws were eventually struck down in court or repealed by state legislatures. Moreover, we cannot forget the history that, before the Jews were sent to concentration camps, Nazi Germany similarly espoused racism against them and adopted laws to take away their land and properties.

We are aware of the geopolitical conflicts between the U.S. and China. We neither represent the Chinese government nor do we intend to influence the future of U.S.-China relations. As a grassroots nonprofit organization in the U.S., the Chinese American Legal Defense Alliance (CALDA) is committed to one goal and one goal only: to protect the equal rights of Chinese Americans in this country.

Our Action Plan

We are pleased to report that many Chinese American communities and organizations have openly opposed these bills. Alongside us, many are denouncing the racist nature of the bills and putting pressure on their elected representatives. These efforts are the beginning of a political awakening for Chinese Americans. We seek to stay united as one voice so that more people will hear us.

Unfortunately, it appears that Republican extremists control the governments and legislatures of these states. They will compete against each other to become the biggest “China hater” in the next election cycle. We must admit that there is a real and significant chance that they will pass these discriminatory bills.

If these bills become law, many other red states will likely follow suit, shattering countless Chinese Americans’ lives. If we do not stop this trend immediately, everyone will face the consequences. Accordingly, we have decided to formally start preparing a legal challenge. We will file lawsuits as soon as the bills are passed. Our goal is to invalidate these discriminatory laws in court in order to protect every Chinese American’s equal rights and properties.

In the coming weeks, we will start assembling teams of lawyers in Texas, Florida, and Georgia; formulating litigation strategies and priorities; and preparing court documents. We will also join forces with several like-minded organizations for this legal campaign, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), United Chinese Americans (UCA), and the National Asian-Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA).

Going against these state governments in such a partisan environment will be an uphill battle. For this reason, we need to build a team of first-rate litigation lawyers. Currently, all of CALDA’s lawyers are volunteers without pay. Based on our past experiences challenging the WeChat ban, we know for a fact that it costs money to retain the best lawyers possible to fight with us. There are no shortcuts.

Not long ago, in the summer of 2020, President Trump issued an Executive Order that banned the use of WeChat. Five Chinese American lawyers established the U.S. WeChat Users Alliance and spearheaded a successful legal challenge in court against the ban. As a result, millions of Chinese Americans can still freely use WeChat today.

Inspired by our victory in the WeChat case, the same group of lawyers subsequently established CALDA to combat the systematic discrimination against Chinese Americans. The bills in Texas, Florida, and Georgia are part of a new wave of racial bias, and the potential damages to us are even greater than the WeChat ban from two years ago.

We stopped the WeChat ban; let’s do it again. We ask for your generous donations so we can win this legal fight!

All donations will be used strictly according to regulations for non-profit organizations and will be monitored by our independent board of directors and third-party accountants. Moreover, we will also periodically publish the financial details through our website (www.caldausa.org) and WeChat Public Account (CALDA).

We did not choose this fight, but we will fight to win. We must come together and stand up now so that our children and we can have a future without fear and discrimination.

Support us in this just and crucial fight!

About CALDA

The Chinese American Legal Defense Alliance (CALDA URL) is the United States’ FIRST and ONLY non-profit organization dedicated to providing free legal representation to all Chinese Americans who have suffered racial discrimination and hatred. Our mission is to eliminate racial discrimination and hatred against Chinese Americans and seek justice and racial equality through litigation and other legal actions. CALDA will retain the best lawyers and hire the biggest guns for the little guys. We will defend Chinese American victims of racial discrimination in a court of law against all offenders, be it an individual, a company, or the government.

CALDA’s five founders are the same group of people who established the U.S. WeChat Users Alliance, after tremendous pressure and resistance, they finally achieved an extraordinary historic victory on WeChat litigation against Donald Trump’s ban executive order. However, they recognized Rome was not built in a day, and the tide of discrimination and hatred against Chinese Americans in the United States won't go away just because of one winning case or one winning election. So, the five attorneys decided to find CALDA in March 2021. In the last two years, CALDA has conducted extensive consultation and research with all walks of life, as well as 18 FOIA requests and lawsuits. CALDA will stick to our mission that despite the "China Initiative" being stopped, CALDA believes it will continue in other patterns as a racially discriminatory policy labeling Chinese as "spies".

CALDA founders know it is going to be difficult since they know how hard it was when they worked on the WeChat case last year. Although they are fighting the U.S. government, they believe in justice, the essence of law, and all colors are equal under the sun. They decided they have to do the right thing, no matter how hard it is.

Why donate to CALDA?

1.    We bring legal actions for Chinese American victims of racial discrimination and hatred to seek compensation and justice;

2.    We defend Chinese Americans in lawsuits who have been unjustly treated due to the color of their skin;

3.    We are founded by experienced lawyers across the U.S. with a proven track record of helping disadvantaged people; and 

4.    We not only seek justice for the victims but also send a message to the entire society through legal precedents and BRING ABOUT SYSTEMATIC CHANGE for Chinese Americans and all minority groups.

Our Phase 1 goal for fundraising: $500,000.00

***CALDA is a 501(C)(3) nonprofit organization.

***NOTE: The funds raised will be primarily used for the above-identified purpose. If circumstances change such as filing a lawsuit is no longer needed, CALDA’s board reserves the full right to allocate resources among different priorities to serve its mission of fighting systematic racial discrimination against all Chinese Americans.