Officials denounce SB 147, which bans people, businesses from certain countries from owning land in Texas.

Austin, Texas – Community members, civil rights activists and Texas lawmakers gathered Monday in Houston to push back on Senate Bill 147.

The bill was sponsored by State Senator Lois Colkhorst. If passed, the bill would ban companies and citizens from North Korea, Iran, Russia and China from buying property in Texas.

“Despite what they say, this is clearly targeting people who are here legally,” said State Rep. Jin-Woo. “It’s targeting visa holders that we’ve been trying to bring in from all over the world, it’s targeting legal, permanent residents or green card holders, people who have said we’re making the US, we’re making Texas our permanent home.”

Republicans say it’s a matter of national security.

“It’s weird because Rep. Wu voted in favor of a bill in the very last session that prevented companies from these four countries from doing the same, and now we’ve realized we need to expand,” said James Dickey, former chairman of the Republican Texas parties. . “We realized we needed to do this because we have a Chinese army leader owning 130,000 acres of Texas right next to Laughlin Air Force Base.”

Opponents of the bill have raised concerns about how it will affect individual immigrants.

“SB 147 will not only take the American dream away from our people, including my family, but it will also damage the economy and culture of Houston,” said Kevin Yu, a green card holder, who spoke at a press conference on Monday. “It’s immoral and contrary to the American spirit.”

Dickey noted that there is room for discussion and that bills usually go through a series of changes by the time they hit the governor’s table.

“People who are fleeing these declared enemies, we salute them as always,” Dickey said. “And if they are seeking citizenship and are permanent legal residents, then I have every confidence that the final draft of this bill will help that.”

This was supported by Andy Hogue, director of public affairs for the Republican Party of Travis County.

“Maybe there is a minimum of 10,000 acres or something,” he said. “Especially with the bill in the last session, there are probably a lot of legal issues, a lot of questions about how federal law can interfere with it, so now we can move on to the discussion in the committee with more information and more ammunition, for that matter. and have a deeper discussion.”

Hog was referring to the 2021 bill that was signed into law by Governor Abbott. It prohibited contracts with companies belonging to the same four countries in connection with critical infrastructure in Texas.

If SB 147 was passed by both houses, Governor Abbott said he would sign it.

FOX 7 is waiting for a response from Senator Colkhorst’s office.