Efforts to Ban China From Purchasing Tennessee Land Draw Politicians Across the Aisle

Democrats concerned of unintended consequences to Nashville's large Kurdish community

Farmland in Wilson County, Tenn., on Jan. 10, 2018. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

A law that will prohibit sanctioned foreign entities and nonresident aliens from property ownership in Tennessee is headed to Gov. Bill Lee for signature, after mostly bipartisan passage in the state legislature.

The bill originally did not include the sanctioned language, but was added through amendments. The first version of the bill stated a foreign business, government, nonresident alien, and agents of such groups could not purchase land in Tennessee if their own country prohibited the U.S. citizens from purchasing real property in that country.

Concerns by Democrats in the legislature were brought up that included possible unintended consequences it could have on the large Kurdish community in the Nashville area, which is home to the largest Kurdish community in North America.

The sanctioned countries that will fall under the amended law are those on the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s sanctions programs and country information list, per the legislation.

The list details sanctions that are either comprehensive or selective, with entire countries on the list or certain entities related to a country. Comprehensive sanction examples on the list as of April 27 include Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, and Somalia while more specific examples include Chinese military companies, counter-terrorism, and Russian harmful foreign activities sanctions.

The Debate

Republican state Rep. Jason Zachary said the bill was about protecting farmland in Tennessee from adversaries of the United States from taking hold of Tennessee land.

“The intent of this piece of legislation is to ensure that the communist Chinese government and their foreign businesses cannot come into Tennessee and continue to buy our agricultural land,” he said. “The Department of Agriculture currently has its latest report which [shows] the Chinese currently own 384,000 Acres of agricultural land. That is up from 192,000 acres in 2019. This piece of legislation addresses a national security threat. It ensures the agricultural land of the state of Tennessee is not owned by our enemies.”

The Tennessee state capitol in Nashville, Tenn., on Aug. 31, 2018. FaceMePLS via Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0

State Rep. John Ray Clemmons, a Nashville Democrat, questioned whether the bill would prevent Kurdish Americans in Nashville from purchasing land in the future if the Kurdish population were ever sanctioned.

State Rep. Jay Reedy, the Republican sponsor of the bill, said he was not entirely sure but that enforcement would be under the control of the Tennessee Secretary of State.

“If we go into the future and the Kurdish population that are here, and of course that’s where a lot of the folks who came and fought or served in our military are working towards getting their citizenship—this would not prevent them from owning property,” Reedy said. “But as far as maybe in the future, it’s a good question. I don’t have an answer.”

Clemmons, an attorney, said the lack of clear answers made him unsupportive of the bill.

“Therein lies the problem and [Rep. Reedy] I don’t know that you’re intending to do anything harmful here—my problem therein lies with the ambiguity of the bill itself and whether or not it will unintentionally do harm to refugees and immigrants that several of us in this room have the pleasure of representing,” Clemmons said.

Reedy, in consultation with the Republican Majority Leader Rep. William Lamberth, said they had briefly discussed the questions with legal teams after the question was brought up on the House floor.

“Those folks that are here legally in this country, we’re not going after those folks, “ Reedy said.

More Democratic Opposition

Other Democrats spoke before the vote, saying the bill could have unintended consequences and even calling the bill immoral.

“My fear, along with what Representative Powell and Representative Clemmons have said, are the unintended consequences of your bill,” state Rep. Bo Mitchell, a Nashville Democrat, said. “Afghani translators that saved many American lives … the Kurds. I’ve got a huge population of Kurds in my district as well. The unintended consequences of your bill are going to hurt people that have saved American lives.”

Mitchell added he didn’t know if some of those refugees came to the Nashville area to escape some totalitarian regimes to have a better life, adding he wanted the bill amended to do what the sponsor intended “without harming these other people.”

He then asked for the bill to be rolled to later in the day’s calendar for more questions to be answered and possible amendments made, but that request failed.

State Rep. Justin Jones, another Nashville Democrat, who was also expelled weeks earlier by the chamber for violations of decorum rules, said the bill would impact people already in Tennessee trying to make a living—adding he did not believe it was a “moral” bill.

He continued by stating he was troubled by the direction of the House and called for support for a “multi-racial democracy,” before calling the bill “shameful.”

The bill passed 72–18, with six Democrats crossing party lines to vote yes on the bill. As of Tuesday, May 2, the bill had not yet been transmitted to Lee’s office for signature.

“Tennessee has taken strategic steps to secure our state and protect against foreign threats, and the Governor commends the legislature for prioritizing this important issue,” Lee’s press secretary Jade Byers told The Epoch Times in an email. “As always, the Governor will review final legislation when it reaches his desk, but he intends to sign the bill.”