AUSTIN — Democratic state Rep. Gene Wu stood inside the Texas Capitol holding a photo of the childhood home in which he grew up in Houston after emigrating from China.
Wu’s family bought the white, single-story house. But a Senate bill from state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, a Brenham Republican, would prevent Wu’s family, as well as citizens, businesses and governments from China, Iran, North Korea or Russia from buying land in Texas — a proposal raising the ire of Wu and others. Gov. Greg Abbott said on Twitter this month he would sign the bill if it reaches his desk this session.
Wu was among several Democratic lawmakers who decried the bill as racist Wednesday and said it’s a painful reminder of similar legislation that was passed by Congress more than a century ago. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 banned Chinese immigration for 10 years and was repealed in 1943.
