Michigan Democratic state Rep. Mai Xiong has a lot to say about bills moving through the legislature that aim to ban the sale of farmland to folks tied to adversarial nations.
The Warren Democrat took to X on Tuesday to sound off on Michigan House bills 4233 and 4234, which cleared the lower chamber the same day with dozens of Democrats voting “yea.”
“You know what’s dumb?” Xiong’s post read. “Violating the constitution and relying on realtors and the SOS to racially profile families when they’re doing American things like trying to buy a house with a white picket fence.”
You know what’s dumb?
Violating the constitution and relying on realtors and the SOS to racially profile families when they’re doing American things like trying to buy a house with a white picket fence #mileg #michigan #alienlandlaws #aanhpi #aanhpiheritagemonth pic.twitter.com/4q2G99sVfO
— Mai Xiong (@MaiXiongMI) May 6, 2025
The post was accompanied by a video of Xiong railing the legislation she claims is rooted in racism.
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“House bills 4233 and 4244 would prevent individuals from owning and purchasing land if they were perceived to be from one of seven countries listed in these bills,” she said.
Xiong, the first Hmong American to serve in Lansing, argued Republicans introduced the legislation “under the guise of protecting national security and America first,” and alleged refugees and other legal immigrants “could now be barred from living the American dream.”
“These bills do not address affordable housing or the cost of living. These bills do not invest infrastructure or national security,” she said. “It doesn’t provide any kind of funding to secure our borders.”
While those issues are not the focus of the legislation, Xiong alleged the legislation is “an attempt to racially profile people when they are out with their realtors doing something very routine and very American, like looking for a home with a white picket fence to grow their family.”
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The legislation, however, does not apply to all families looking to purchase homes, but rather foreign government officials or political party members, or non-citizens from seven specific countries of concern: China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, or Syria.
The intent is to prevent foreign agents from purchasing farm lands within 20 miles of a military installation or other “key facilities” like chemical manufacturing plants, refineries, or other critical energy or utility facilities.
The bills are part of a broader legislative package that also includes legislation to limit public contracts with countries of concern, ensure health data and technology is housed in the U.S. or Canada, and other protections.
Bill sponsors have pointed to numerous concerning issues involving folks from countries of concern in recent years, including repeated incidents of cyberattacks on the state’s hospitals and hacking critical federal infrastructure, Chinese students at the University of Michigan charged with espionage at the Camp Grayling military training base, and economic development deals with companies linked to the Chinese Communist Party, such as a planned Gotion battery component plant in Mecosta County and Ford’s partnership with battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., at its new BlueOval megasite in Marshall.
The Gotion and CATL projects are backed with over $1 billion in combined taxpayer-funded business incentives that were secretly negotiated by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration and select lawmakers.
Xiong’s criticism of HBs 4233 and 4234 also lacks critical context regarding her own questionable history of real estate purchases.
Xiong paid $310,000 for her 2,425 square-foot Newcastle home in May 2021 “with funds bilked from investors through an alleged Ponzi scheme run by her sister, Kay Yang, in Wisconsin, according to court documents,” according to court documents cited by the Macomb Daily News.
A Wisconsin judge in last year placed a lien on the property, along with six other properties in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan.
“Multiple lawsuits were filed against Yang, including federal complaints in United States District Court Eastern District in Wisconsin by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission,” the news site reported in August.
“According to a complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Yang allegedly was paid $16.5 million from 70 investors through her Xapphire, LLC and AK Equity companies that was meant to be used for foreign currency exchange trading and other investments,” the report read. “Much of that money was allegedly spent on travel, casinos, and luxury items.”
Yang also served as the manager of Xiong’s now defunct clothing business Mai & Co., which was registered as a foreign limited liability company in Nevada in 2018.
Xiong, who won re-election with Whitmer’s endorsement last year, shut down the business in 2022 just eight months after receiving a $10,000 federal grant through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as $7,174 in sustainability and workplace safety grants.
The DHHS grant flowed through the city of Warren, and the others through Macomb County, at a time when Xiong served on the Macomb County Board of Commissioners.