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

The one-bedroom condo in Miami’s financial district had a view of the river, was in a safe neighborhood and, Li heard, had neighbors who were much like her — less party, more chill. So 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.

Then things took a sharp turn. At the last minute, the title company raised concerns about a small U.S. Coast Guard outpost near South Beach a few miles away. The company said her purchase 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.

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

“The whole experience was very hurtful and tiring,” Li said 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.”

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.

Florida’s law, in effect since 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.

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

No American dream

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.

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.

“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.”

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.

Yukey Hoo, a real estate agent in Winter Garden near Orlando, estimated that she has turned away 10 potential clients, about 20% of her usual business, because she could not determine their eligibility to buy property.

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.

“Every day I am getting phone calls from people asking if they can buy a house under the law,” said 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.”

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.

“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 Rep. 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.”

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

The Chinese government has a record of using economic coercion 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.

Investment worries

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% of foreign-held agricultural land in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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

Holden Triplett, a former FBI counterintelligence official who led the bureau’s offices in China, said 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.

“We need to be careful about these blunt instrument laws,” said Triplett, who left the FBI in 2020 and co-founded Trenchcoat Advisors, a risk management consultancy.

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.

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% 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.

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.

But the experience left her with a bitter taste.

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