The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Florida, DeHeng Law Offices PC, and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), in coordination with the Chinese American Legal Defense Alliance (CALDA), are challenging Florida’s discriminatory property law, SB 264, on behalf of four individual plaintiffs and a Florida real estate brokerage firm that primarily serves clients of Chinese descent.
Signed by Governor Ron DeSantis on May 8, 2023, SB 264 unfairly restricts most Chinese citizens — and most citizens of Cuba, Venezuela, Syria, Iran, Russia, and North Korea — from purchasing homes in the state. The law bars people who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents, and whose “domicile,” or permanent home, is in China, from purchasing property in Florida altogether. A similar but less restrictive rule would apply to citizens of Cuba, Venezuela, and other “countries of concern.” The sole exception is incredibly narrow: people with non-tourist visas or who have been granted asylum may purchase one residential property under two acres that is not within five miles of any military installation in the state. Notably, there are more than 20 military installations in Florida, many of them within five miles of city centers like Orlando, Miami, and Tallahassee.
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- 05/22/2023 Complaint
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lennyesq 