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TALAHASEE, May 22 (AP) — A group of Chinese nationals living and working in Florida sued the state Monday over a new law that prohibits Chinese nationals from buying real estate in large swaths of the state.
The law applies to land near military installations and other “critical infrastructure,” and also affects citizens of Cuba, Venezuela, Syria, Iran, Russia and North Korea.
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But Chinese citizens face the toughest restrictions.
The law “would codify and expand housing discrimination against people of Asian descent in violation of the Constitution and fair housing laws.
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It also places an undue burden of suspicion on anyone seeking to purchase a property with a name that sounds a lot like Asia, Russia, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, or Syria,” the ACLU said in a press release announcing the lawsuit.
The lawsuit says the law unfairly equates the Chinese with the actions of their government and that there is no evidence that buying Florida real estate by Chinese nationals poses a national security risk.
U.S.-China relations have been strained by growing tensions over security and trade issues.
Decades of concern over foreign land ownership has intensified in nearly a dozen state capitols and Congress since the U.S. military shot down a Chinese spy balloon over states from Alaska to South Carolina last month. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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