Protecting American Agriculture From Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 9456 would expand the kind of transactions that the Secretary of Agriculture is required to report to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., otherwise known as CFIUS, including any farmland transaction by foreign persons from China, North Korea, Russia, or Iran.

This broad definition of foreign persons would encompass all legal immigrants and refugees from these countries and require the Secretary to report on their agricultural land transactions.

This opens the door to treating immigrants as national security threats solely because of their country of origin and harms Asian- American communities across the board.

I recount that my own family, my father's family, was affected by the alien land laws that were prevalent on the West Coast of the United States. My grandfather, Esal Takano, emigrated to this country through the Port of Tacoma, and he married my American-born grandmother. He was not able to purchase land in his own name. In fact, in the mid-1930s, he purchased five acres of land in my grandmother's name because she was an American citizen. My uncle, who was returning in uniform from the 442nd Infantry, notified the family that there was a lien against the property, and they couldn't pay it in time because they were in internment camps.

It is a terrible chapter in our history that this country passed alien land laws that affected so many of the families that my family knows.

For this reason, at the appropriate time, I will offer a motion to recommit this bill back to committee. If the House Rules permitted, I would have offered a motion with an important amendment to this bill.

My amendment would add findings regarding the scapegoating of Asian and Iranian Americans as a long part of U.S. history and show instances of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders nationwide who have experienced discrimination and unfair treatment.

We must send this bill back to committee and bring forth thoughtful proposals that help our communities without putting our national security at risk.

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues will join me in voting for the motion to recommit.

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

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