Jason Yuan, a second-hand car shop owner, closes the hood of a vehicle after tightening the last nut on the battery terminal - a routine he is all too familiar with. Texas has long felt like home for him, as a naturalised US citizen born in China. But a recently passed state law is shaking his belief in his chosen homeland.
Texas Senate Bill 17 of 2025, also known as SB 17, will take effect on 1 September, restricting people and companies from China, Iran, North Korea and Russia from purchasing and renting property. Officials say the bill is to protect national security. But to people like Mr Yuan, it sends a discriminatory message - that people who look like him are not welcome in Texas.
'It is anti-Asian, anti-immigrant, and specifically against Chinese-Americans,' said Texas Representative Gene Wu, a Democrat leading the fight against the bill.
The new law could harm businesses in Texas, Wu told the BBC. Companies that could bring millions of dollars of investment to the state are looking for options elsewhere.
SB 17 was proposed earlier this year and signed into law on 20 June by Governor Greg Abbott, who called it the 'toughest ban in America' to keep away foreign 'adversaries'. It prohibits certain individuals and organizations of countries designated as national security threats from acquiring property in Texas - including homes, commercial space and agricultural land. It also restricts the length of time for which they can rent property to less than one year.
China is the first country named in the legislation, which accuses Beijing of using 'coercive, subversive, and malignant influence activities to weaken the United States' in its bid to surpass the US economically, militarily and politically. Those who violate the law could face fines of more than $250,000 (£193,000) or jail terms.
US citizens and green card holders are exempt, and valid visa-holders will still be allowed to own one primary residence. But opponents say regardless of the carve-outs, the bill is discriminatory in nature, and anyone deemed to look Chinese could be subject to unfair scrutiny.
In July, the Chinese American Legal Defense Alliance (Calda), a non-profit organization, filed a lawsuit on behalf of three visa-holders from China, arguing that the law was unconstitutional. The judge later dismissed the case, siding with the state attorney general who said the plaintiffs - who are student-visa and work-visa holders living in Texas - would not be personally affected by the law.
It therefore appears that the three plaintiffs are spared for now. But, for the wider group of visa-holders from the four countries, the lack of clear interpretation of the legal clauses still stokes uncertainty. Calda says it has filed an appeal.
Chinese nationals are the largest group affected by the new law. At least 120,000 people who were born in mainland China were living in Texas as of 2023.
Qinlin Li, a recent graduate of Texas A&M University and a plaintiff of the lawsuit filed against SB 17, said she was shocked when she first learned about the bill. 'If there's no human rights, then we [are] back to like 150 years ago, we were like the railroad labourers,' Ms Li said.
The right to own land has been a struggle for Chinese-Americans, dating back over a century. A previous alien land law in Texas, which restricted non-US citizens from purchasing land, was in force until 1965. It was deemed to be 'unreasonable and discriminatory' and against 'economic development'.
Abbott says his top priority is the safety and security of Texans. Asked for comment by the BBC, his office referred to previous statements on the matter, including a press release that said 'hostile foreign adversaries', including China, 'must not be allowed to own land in Texas'.
The legislative effort was prompted in part by Chinese businessman Sun Guangxin's controversial purchase of 140,000 acres land in Texas for a wind farm between 2016 and 2018, including land near Laughlin Air Force Base. Although initially approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), Texas passed a law in 2021 prohibiting agreements with certain foreign-owned companies in 'critical infrastructure', and Mr Sun's project was thwarted.
Texas Senator John Cornyn in 2024 said that as a member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and a former senior leader in the Chinese military, Sun likely had other concerning surveillance plans on behalf of the Chinese government.
However, officials from the US have stated that concerns about the project were unfounded and merely political posturing.
