Texas is considering banning Chinese nationals from attending public colleges.
In a rare display of unity, both Republicans and Democrats said the laws are necessary to protect national security.
Texas is considering banning Chinese nationals from attending public colleges.
TEXAS: When Mr Hugh Li arrived in the United States in the early 1990s to attend graduate school, he was struck by how welcoming most Americans were.
“I think back then, people from China were welcomed," said Mr Li, founder of the Austin Chinese-American Network.
But 30 years later, he has noticed a marked shift in attitudes worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, state legislatures across the US are debating, and in many cases implementing new restrictions on Chinese nationals and companies.
At least 34 states have blocked federal employees from using the Chinese social media app TikTok. Montana has banned it outright.
At least 22 states have restrictions on land purchases, while Texas is considering banning Chinese nationals from attending public colleges.
While the bills will not directly impact Mr Li or his family since he has been a US citizen since 2005, he is concerned about the signal they send.
“These bills would … send a message to people around the country that these people (Chinese) could be potentially spies, could be potentially doing bad things to the US and so they should be discriminated against,” he said.
In a rare display of unity, both Republicans and Democrats said the laws are necessary to protect national security. They pointed to the downing of a suspected Chinese spy balloon earlier this year and cases of Chinese nationals buying up large swathes of land near military bases.
Last month, Florida became the latest state to ban Chinese nationals from purchasing farm land and property near military installations or other “critical infrastructure” like airports and power plants.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who has announced that he will be running for president next year, said at a press conference that “we really need to have a unified effort in this county to deter the CCP’s (Chinese Communist Party) ambitions and influence”.
Many of the bills also put restrictions on North Korean, Russian and Iranian citizens, but singling out specific nationalities has raised questions about whether such laws are even constitutional.
Law professor at Southern Methodist University Leo Yu said they are not.
Some of the proposals could violate the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution which protects property rights and equal protection under the law, said Prof Yu.
“I think national security is definitely a legitimate concern at this stage. And I'm not saying that it is not. But I think what happened now is that we really have broadened the definition of national security to a level that we don't really know what that means anymore,” said the Clinical Professor of Legal Research, Writing & Advocacy.
Mr Li agreed that national security is a legitimate concern, but is worried that these laws will inflame anti-Asian hate.
“Just imagine your family could be just targeted by a group of extremists and they have guns and they are easily accessible. And so that is a real concern to me,” he said.