Kansas AG Supports Bill Banning Foreigners From Buying Land, Cites Recently-Passed Oklahoma Law

Kansas wants to pass a law that would ban foreign people and corporations from buying three or more acres of land in the state.

The Kansas Attorney General supports the bill saying he believes foreign nationalists are buying land to spy on the U.S or take our food supply.

Oklahoma passed a similar law in November.

Oklahoma's law bans non-U.S. citizens from buying land here.

The law was passed after people from other countries were buying up land in Oklahoma and operating thousands of illegal marijuana farms.

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said Chinese Nationalists and Mexican drug cartels are a threat to Kansas.

He uses Oklahoma as an example of why Kansas needs to pass a similar law.

"The land they are acquiring in Oklahoma and Texas tends to be larger acreage and so they tend to have a series of safe locations that they move to, so the presence of Mexican cartel is very real," Kobach said.

Marty Reichenberger is a farmer in Independence, Kansas.

He raises cattle and grows grain, wheat, and corn. He supports the proposed bill.

"We can't outbid the Chinese government, or the cartel and they'll end up buying that ground and put more and more ground together and pretty soon they're the biggest farmer in the state and that’s how they can be an influence in policy and influence what’s done with our food system," said Reichenberger.

Okmulgee County Sheriff Eddy Rice says foreign landowners were causing huge issues in Oklahoma before our law was passed.

"You would have semi-trucks that would show up in the middle of the night you’d have cargo vans showing up which they're taking their marijuana or whatever fentanyl who knows what all they had and transporting it to where ever those destinations where but also you'd be bringing people in its not just narcotics it'd be human trafficking," Rice said.

Sheriff Rice believes even more needs to be done to protect Oklahoma land.

"A country could have somebody set up that's from here that they buy the land they put in their name and then they are receiving the benefits from this there has to be a mechanism that helps us monitor things," Rice said.

Four similar bills in Kansas failed last year after some people questioned whether they were constitutional.

If the Kansas bill becomes law, a five-member land council would be created to review requests for exemptions.