社評 0301 困擾中的德州第147案

星期三參院提案

困擾中的德州第147案

華亞裔社區領䄂週二下午和德州參議員柯赫斯（Texas Senator Kolkhurst )之法案起草人助理麥羅佛林(Grant McLoughlin) 舉行了線上座談會，就147 案進行交流 。但是雙方仍然有諸多疑慮和差距。

此案之內容主要是禁止來自中國大陸 、伊朗、北韓和俄羅斯之公民在德州購買土地。 今天之會議中麥羅佛林表示會在法案中提出修正案，專門是指以上四國之政府單位而非個人。

我在會中特別指出休斯敦國際區過去二十年之發展，表明了華亞裔對社會之極大貢獻，這片荒土變為商業區是移民在此投資創業之例子， 如果此法通過將嚴重影響華亞裔人士到德州投資之意願。

我們決不可用國家安全為由， 全面封殺外國人之投資， 影響到德州經濟之發展 ，不論法案如此修改 ，總是有反華之惡劣色彩， 對我們社區之就業 、経濟會有巨大之衝擊。

我們還是呼籲參議員柯赫斯應該懸崖勒馬， 立即取消提出此法案 ，以免製造更多之族群矛盾。

The Troubles Of The Chinese American Community

A group of Asian Americans had a Zoom meeting with Mr. Grant McLoughlin, the legal assistant to Senator Kolkhurst who sponsored the Bill 147 in the Texas Senate.

The content and purpose of this bill is to mainly ban citizens from China, North Korea, Iran and Russia from buying land in Texas. In the meeting, Mr. McLoughlin said the current bill will be amended to refer to only those from the mentioned government bodies would be affected.

In the meeting, I pointed out that the development and progress of the Houston International District over the past twenty years shows that Asian and Chinese immigrants have made great contributions to our community shown by the dramatic transformation of raw land into a thriving commercial district. If this law passes, it will seriously affect the willingness of Chinese and other Asians in general to invest in Texas.

We must not use national security as a reason to ban foreign investment to hurt our economy. No matter how they modify the bill, it still represents an anti-Chinese American sentiment and will make a huge impact on our community.

We want to call on Senator Kolkhurst to cancel his sponsorship immediately to prevent Bill 147 from ever passing in order  to avoid creating any more ethnic conflict and to put to rest any additional confusion and uncertainty in the Chinese and other Asian communities.