当中国公民在美国买房被视为国家安全威胁

After years of living in dorms and subpar apartments, Lisa Li could not wait to close on her new home.

在宿舍和差强人意的公寓住了多年后，丽莎·李（音）迫不及待地想要住进新家。

The one-bedroom condo in Miami’s financial district had a view of the river, was in a safe neighborhood and, Ms. Li heard, had neighbors who were much like her — less party, more chill. So Ms. Li, a 28-year-old who came to the United States 11 years ago as a college student from China, put in an offer, had her bid accepted and began ordering furniture.

这套一居室的河景公寓位于迈阿密的金融区，是一个安全的社区，丽莎·李听说，邻居们和她很像——不太喜欢派对，更喜欢放松。于是，今年28岁、11年前作为中国留学生前来美国的丽莎·李开了个价，她开的价被接受了，她开始订购家具。

Then things took a sharp turn. At the last minute, the title company raised concerns about a small United States Coast Guard outpost near South Beach a few miles away. Her purchase, the company said, might run afoul of a new Florida law that prohibits many Chinese citizens from buying property in the state, especially near military installations, airports or refineries.

然后事情急转直下。物权凭证公司在最后关头提出一个担忧，因为离公寓楼几公里远的南海滩附近有一个美国海岸警卫队的小前哨，该公司担心，李女士在这个楼里买公寓可能违反佛罗里达州的一项新法律，该法律禁止许多中国公民在该州购买房产，尤其是靠近军事设施、机场或炼油厂的地方。

Under the law, Ms. Li could face prison time, and the sellers and real estate agents could be held liable. The deal collapsed.

按照该法律，丽莎·李可能面临牢狱之灾，卖家和房地产中介也可能被追究责任。这笔交易吹了。

“The whole experience was very hurtful and tiring,” Ms. Li said in a recent interview at a cafe in Miami, where she is still renting. “I just feel that, as someone who has lived and worked in this country for many years, and as a legal taxpayer, at the very least I should have the ability to buy a home that I can live in.”

“整个经历非常伤人，也很累，”丽莎·李最近在迈阿密的一家咖啡馆接受采访时说，她目前仍在那里租房住。“我只是觉得，作为一个在这个国家生活和工作多年的人，作为一个合法的纳税人，我至少应该能买一套自己可以住的房子。”

More than three dozen states have enacted or are considering similar laws restricting land purchases by Chinese citizens and companies, arguing that such transactions are a growing threat to national security and that the federal government has failed to stop Chinese Communist Party influence in America.

超过30个州已经颁布或正在考虑制定类似的法律，限制中国公民和公司购买土地，理由是此类交易对国家安全的威胁越来越大，而且联邦政府未能阻止中国共产党在美国的影响。

Florida’s law, which went into effect in July, is among the furthest reaching. In addition to barring Chinese entities from buying agricultural land, it effectively prohibits most Chinese individuals without a green card from purchasing residential property. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the measure just before launching his Republican presidential campaign, warning voters that China represented the biggest threat to the United States.

上述佛罗里达州法律是去年7月生效的，也是这类法律中覆盖范围最广的一部。除了禁止中国实体购买农业用地外，还实际上禁止大多数没有绿卡的中国个人购买住宅物业。州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯在启动他在共和党内竞选总统候选人的活动前签署了这项法律，他警告选民，中国代表着美国面临的最大威胁。

“Today, Florida makes it very clear: We don’t want the C.C.P. in the Sunshine State,” Mr. DeSantis said last year.

“今天，佛罗里达州非常明确地表示：我们不希望中共出现在这个阳光之州，”德桑蒂斯去年说。

In more than a dozen interviews, Chinese residents in Florida voiced frustrations about being cut off from the ultimate American dream. Other residents of Chinese descent said they faced discrimination as they tried to buy a home. Some said they lived in fear over whether they may have inadvertently violated the law.

在十几个采访中，佛罗里达州的来自中国的居民对被终极美国梦拒之门外表示失望。还有些中国裔居民表示，他们在买房时面临歧视。一些人说，他们担心自己是否在无意中违反了法律。

Civil rights and Asian American groups are unaware of anyone being charged with violating the law. But some people of Chinese descent said they feel the anti-China sentiment intensifying. The law is currently being challenged in federal court.

民权组织和亚裔美国人团体并未了解到有任何人被指控违反了这项法律。但一些华裔人士说，他们感到反华情绪正在加剧。这项法律目前正在联邦法院受到合法性的质疑。

“I never felt any discrimination here before this law,” said Jin Bian, a Chinese software developer who works in Tampa and is among those now barred from buying property. “But now I’m wondering if I need to leave Florida.”

“在这项法律出台之前，我从未在这里有任何受歧视的感觉，”在坦帕工作、来自中国的软件开发人员金卞（音）说，他现在是被禁止买房的人之一。“但现在我在想，是不是需要离开佛罗里达。”

The law has also had an apparent chilling effect on the real estate industry, an important part of the state’s economy. Developers often rely on Chinese investors to help build projects in Florida, and the law appears to have barred such financing, prompting pushback from a prominent real estate lobbying group.

该法律也已对房地产行业产生了明显的寒蝉效应，房地产行业是佛罗里达经济的一个重要组成部分。开发商们经常依赖中国投资者来帮助该州的建设项目，而法律似乎已禁止了此类资金，引发了一个主要的房地产游说团体的反对。

Yukey Hoo, a real estate agent in Winter Garden, a suburb of Orlando, estimated that she has turned away 10 potential clients — about one-fifth of her usual business — because she could not determine whether they were eligible to buy property.

据自称“Yukey姐姐”的奥兰多郊区温特花园房地产经纪人胡女士估计，她已拒绝了10名潜在的客户，约占其通常业务的20%，因为她无法确定他们是否有资格在佛罗里达买房。

The law technically applies to people who are “domiciled” in China and don’t hold U.S. citizenship or permanent residency, and much of the confusion has centered on what “domicile” means. Sellers and real estate agents can face up to one year of prison time for violating the law.

该法律原则上适用于“定居”中国、没有美国公民身份或永久居留权的人，该法的大部分不确定性集中在“定居”的含义上。卖家和房地产经纪人可能会因违这项法律面临最高一年的有期徒刑。

“Every day I am getting phone calls from people asking if they can buy a house under the law,” said Ms. Hoo, who has sold real estate in Florida for 10 years. “I tell them to talk to an attorney, but for those who aren’t sure about their status, we don’t want to take the risk.”

“每天我都接到人们打来的电话，询问根据这项法律，他们是否能购房，”在佛罗里达州做房地产销售已有10年的胡女士说。“我让他们去找律师问问，但对那些自己的身份不确定的人，我们不想冒这个险。”

The Florida law restricts “foreign principals” from six other “countries of concern,” like Venezuela and Cuba, from owning property. But the most onerous restrictions — and harshest penalties — are specifically aimed at Chinese citizens.

佛罗里达州的法律限制来自其他六个“关切国家”（如委内瑞拉和古巴）的“外国当事人”在该州拥有房地产。但最严格的限制和最严厉的处罚是专门针对中国公民的。

The law was part of a broader package passed by the Florida Legislature last spring that included a bill restricting the state’s public universities and colleges from offering research positions to students from China and other countries. That law is also being challenged in court.

该法律是佛罗里达州立法机构去年春天通过的一揽子更广泛法案的一部分，其中还包括限制该州的公立大学和学院向来自中国和其他国家的学生提供助研职位的法律，这项法律也正在法庭上受到质疑。

“The deeper that you look under the hood, the deeper that you see China has been clandestinely going after land grabs in the United States,” said State Representative David Borrero, a Republican from the Miami area who was one of the sponsors of the land law. “We can’t just have that in our backyard.”

“你对底层运作了解得越深入，就越能发现中国一直在美国秘密地掠夺土地，”佛罗里达州议会来自迈阿密地区的共和党议员戴维·博雷罗说，他是上述房地产法的发起人之一。“我们不能在我们的后院里眼看着它发生。”

Mr. Borrero disagreed with critics who said the property bill was discriminatory. “Our national security interests come first,” he said.

博雷罗不同意批评者的说法，即该房地产法具有歧视性。“首先要考虑的是我们的国家安全利益，”他说。

The Chinese government has a record of using economiccoercion and espionage to further its geopolitical goals and, in recent years, both the United States and China have stepped up efforts to advance their spying capabilities around the world.

中国政府有使用经济胁迫和间谍活动来推进其地缘政治目标的记录，近年来，美国和中国都已加大了在世界各地提升间谍能力的努力。

State lawmakers have been especially worried about Chinese investment in agricultural land and territory near military installations, fearing that China could throttle America’s food supply or use the land as a spy post. Chinese interests own less than 1 percent of foreign-held agricultural land in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

州立法者尤其担心中国对农业用地和军事设施附近领土的投资，担心中国可能卡美国粮食供应的脖子，或将这些土地用于间谍哨所。据美国农业部的数据，在外国人拥有的美国农业用地中，中国利益攸关者拥有的面积不到1%。

National security experts said that the specific threat posed by Chinese people owning homes has not been clearly articulated.

国家安全专家称，中国人在美国拥有住房所构成的具体威胁尚未被明确阐明。

Holden Triplett, a former F.B.I. counterintelligence official who led the bureau’s offices in China, said that Chinese citizens are more likely to have family ties to China that could be weaponized by state security agencies there. But he said categorical bans could further alienate a Chinese diaspora community that could be of particular help to the United States in the event of a conflict with China.

曾在联邦调查局负责该局驻中国办事处的前反情报官员霍尔登·特里普利特说，中国公民更有可能在国内拥有能被国家安全机构武器化的家庭关系。但他表示，绝对的禁令可能会进一步疏远华人社区，如果与中国发生冲突的话，这个社区可能对美国特别有帮助。

“We need to be careful about these blunt instrument laws,” said Mr. Triplett, who left the F.B.I. in 2020 and co-founded Trenchcoat Advisors, a risk management consultancy. “Let’s do the work to find out what’s happening and to see if there is another way we can address this problem.”

“我们需要小心使用这些钝器法，”特里普利特说，他已在2020年离开联邦调查局，与他人共同成立了风险管理咨询公司Trenchcoat Advisors。“我们应该努力对情况进行调查，看看是否有其他能解决问题的办法。”

Civil rights groups and residents have challenged the Florida law in federal court on grounds that it violates the Equal Protection Clause and the Fair Housing Act, and that it undercuts the federal government powers on foreign affairs.

民权组织和居民认为该法违反了美国宪法第十四修正案中的平等保护条款和联邦政府的《公平住房法》，削弱了联邦政府在外交事务上的权力，已在联邦法院对佛罗里达州的法律提出质疑。

“There’s no evidence that Chinese homeownership poses harm to national security,” said Ashley Gorski, senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, one of several groups that brought the suit.

“没有证据表明中国人在美国拥有住房对国家安全构成损害，”美国公民自由联盟的资深律师阿什利·戈尔斯基说，该联盟是提起联邦诉讼的几个组织之一。

Mae Ngai, a professor of history and Asian American Studies at Columbia University, said the Florida law recalled the alien land laws from the early 20th century, which effectively prohibited Asian immigrants from buying farmland and, in some cases, homes in many states.

在哥伦比亚大学研究历史和亚裔美国人的教授艾明如说，佛罗里达州的法律让人回想起20世纪初的外国人土地法，该法实际上禁止了亚洲移民在许多州购买农田，而且在某些情况下禁止他们购买房屋。

“They saw Asians as an alien invasion that was going to take over America,” Dr. Ngai said.

“他们将亚洲人视为将占领美国的入侵外来者，”艾明如说。

After the bill was introduced last spring, the Chinese community in Florida began frantically organizing rallies and door-knocking sessions.

佛罗里达州有关住房的法案去年春天进入立法日程后，该州的华人社区开始赶紧组织集会和挨门挨户的动员活动。

In Texas, opposition from the Asian American community, including a former Republican lawmaker of Chinese descent, helped roll back some provisions in a similar bill. But in Florida, the Chinese community is just 0.6 percent of the population. Many are first-generation immigrants who moved to the state to study or work at universities. And there are very few Asian American politicians in the Legislature.

在得克萨斯州，来自亚裔美国人社区（包括州众议院的一名华裔前共和党议员）的反对意见，帮助削弱了该州类似法案中的一些条款。但佛罗里达州的华人社区人口仅占全州人口的0.6%。许多人是在该州的大学学习或工作的第一代移民。而且州立法机构中几乎没有亚裔政客。

The Florida activists’ dissent barely registered.

佛罗里达州活动人士的反对几乎没有引起注意。

Lobbyists for the prominent hedge fund Citadel, which moved to Miami from Chicago in 2022 and employs a large number of Chinese citizens, were more effective and managed to secure an exemption for Chinese people on valid work visas to buy one primary residence as long as the property is smaller than two acres and not within five miles of a military installation.

著名对冲基金城堡投资(Citadel)游说者的工作更有效，该公司已在2022年从芝加哥搬到迈阿密，雇有大量中国公民。公司的游说者设法在法律中添加了一项豁免条款，让持有有效工作签证的中国人能购买一处主要住所，只要房产的土地面积小于两英亩（约合12亩），而且与军事设施的距离超过五英里（合八公里）。

But most of the initially proposed restrictions were kept in place, and the impact of the law was felt almost immediately.

但法案中最初提出的大部分限制措施仍然保留，该法的影响几乎立即显现出来。

Sunny Long, a real estate agent in Tallahassee, said that she now pores over Google Maps to approximate where her Chinese clients could be eligible to buy property. Florida has around 20 major military bases, many small military outposts and even more critical facilities like airports and water treatment plants that could be covered under the law.

塔拉哈西的房地产经纪人桑尼·朗（音）说，她现在要在谷歌地图上仔细测量，以估算她的中国客户是否有资格在他们想要的地方购买房产。佛罗里达州约有20个主要军事基地、许多小型军事前哨，以及可能受该法管辖的更多机场和水处理厂等重要设施。

“Many of my clients would like to buy in a certain neighborhood that has a good school district, but it’s too close to the airport,” she said. “It’s been a big test for me.”

“我的许多客户都想在有好学校的某个社区买房，但该社区离机场太近，”她说。“这对我来说是一个很大的考验。”

Asian Americans are also concerned that the law has led to profiling of anyone perceived to be Chinese, no matter their citizenship or residency status.

亚裔美国人也担心，该法律已导致任何被认为是中国人的人面临形象定性问题，无论他们是否有公民身份或永久居留权。

One man said a real estate agent at an open house asked him if he was qualified to buy the house after he chatted in Mandarin with his parents.

一名男子说，在一次为欲购房者而设的看房时间里，因为听见他与父母用普通话交谈，一名房地产经纪人问他是否有资格买那套房子。

Evelyn Yang, a real estate agent in Palm Beach Gardens, said that shortly after the law went into effect, she repeatedly made inquiries about an apartment in Miami on behalf of a Chinese client who had permanent residency. She didn’t hear back from the seller’s agent for days, she said.

棕榈滩花园的房地产经纪人伊芙琳·杨（音）说，该法生效后不久，她曾多次代表一名拥有永久居留权的中国客户询问迈阿密的一套公寓。她说，卖家的经纪人好几天都没回复她的询问。

“When they finally returned my calls, they just said, ‘Can your buyer buy? Can’t Chinese people not buy right now?’” Ms. Yang recalled. “They see that our names are Chinese and assume that we can’t buy.”

“当他们最终回复我的电话时，他们只是说，‘你代表的买家能买吗？中国人现在是不是不能买了？”杨女士回忆道。“他们看到我们有中国名字，就认为我们不能买房。”

Such interactions could be considered intentional discrimination based on national origin, which is prohibited by the Fair Housing Act of 1968, said Scott Chang, senior counsel for the National Fair Housing Alliance. On Monday, the alliance and several other groups announced a new lawsuit making that allegation.

国家公平住房联盟的高级法律顾问斯科特·张（音）说，这种互动可能被视为基于国籍的故意歧视，被1968年颁布的《公平住房法》禁止。周一，该联盟和其他几个团体宣布了一项提出这一指控的新诉讼。

Nearly one year after her home-buying attempt fell through, Ms. Li, the renter in Miami, still vividly recalls the days spent frantically trying to salvage her deal.

购房失败近一年后，迈阿密的租房者李女士仍清楚地记得那些疯狂地试图挽救购房交易的日子。

The desperate calls to attorneys and state lawmakers. The time spent calculating distances. Ms. Li’s real estate agent even drove to the Coast Guard outpost on South Beach to try to determine if it was a “military installation” under the law.

拼命给律师和州立法者们打电话。在计算房子与海警前哨的距离上花费的时间。李女士的房地产经纪人甚至开车去了位于南海滩的海警前哨，试图确定它是否属于法律中的“军事设施”。

Ms. Li said she still loved living in Miami. It was clean compared to New York City, where she lived before. She loved taking tennis lessons at the courts in Palm Island Park and exploring the diverse food scene with her friends.

李女士说，她仍喜欢在迈阿密住。与她以前居住的纽约市相比，这里很干净。她喜欢在棕榈岛公园的球场上网球课，喜欢与朋友们一起品尝那里多样化的美食。

But the experience left her with a bitter taste.

但那次购房经历已给她留下了苦涩的味道。

“I think I may just have to leave,” she said. “Who knows what policies they might come up with next?”

“我觉得我也许不得不离开这里，”她说。“谁知道他们下次会提出什么政策来？”