Last week, the Texas Senate gave initial passage to Senate Bill 17, which would ban entities and nationals of U.S. adversaries from buying land in Texas.

This is a similar bill to Senate Bill 147 in 2023, which faced strong opposition from Chinese groups in Texas and other states. The bill did not even get a vote in the House.

Currently, SB 17 and its House counterpart, HB 17, are facing the same opposition from the same groups.

Yesterday, I saw slogans and messages from some Chinese WeChat groups urging members to flood offices of lawmakers with calls to ask them kill the bill. The messages instructed them to oppose SB17, HB17, HB1849 and HB2536. They included statements such as, “If you vote for this bill, you are a racist, you hate Chinese Americans, and we will let everyone know…”

Chinese groups in Dallas, Houston, and Austin planned an anti-SB17/HB17 protest for March 30 in Dallas zTAO Market. More protests are likely on the way.

Like SB 147, SB17 does not target at any group of American citizens, nor any green card holder. It is simply a way Texans say “No” to communist China and other adversaries by securing its own land.

Neither the U.S. Constitution nor the Texas Constitution say a word about permitting anyone from anywhere in the world to come to Texas to buy land.

It is a bipartisan consensus that China is the biggest threat to the U.S. Refusing to sell land to Chinese nationals or entities is NOT racist; it is a fundamental right of the state!

Those who oppose SB 17 are not defending their own housing rights. They are defending the rights of Communist China to invade Texas, as well as Chinese military’s rights to set up spy stations here.

Many of those making overwhelming calls to lawmakers’ offices may not be Chinese Americans as they claim but rather Chinese nationals. I suggest that lawmakers’ staffers verify callers’ immigration status with ICE. Some may not even live in Texas.

The groups that organize these protests need to be investigated for their ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

I received a text from Dustin Burrows when he was running for the House speaker saying that he will push for a law to protect Texas land against foreign adversaries. Mr. Speaker, now it’s time to keep your promise.

The House minority leader is a pro-CCP guy with ties to CCP officials before their consulate in Houston was shut down. That’s one of the reasons the land laws are easily passed in other states, such as Florida, but got stuck in Texas last time.

This time, we should not back down. Texas can stop millions of illegal aliens from crossing our southern border. Texans can also ban communist China from taking away the land in the Lone Star State.

This time, Texas Must Win!

This is a commentary published with the author’s permission. If you wish to submit a commentary to Texas Scorecard, it must be no longer than 800 words. Send to: submission@texasscorecard.com

Bin Xie

Ben Xie is a cyber security professional working in Texas Medical Center.

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