In the late 1950s, my parents tried to buy land in northern New Jersey on which to build a home. But no one would sell to them. A real estate agent said it was because they were Chinese.

It was a time when, throughout the United States, residential segregation was common, supported by mortgage lending practices and often written into real estate deeds with racial covenants that forbade the sale of a home to Black people, Jews and Asians. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Western states passed alien land laws, which prohibited Asian immigrants from buying or leasing agricultural property. The rationale for these restrictions was to prevent Asians, envisioned as an alien invasion, from taking over the United States.

Now new laws are targeting Chinese people from owning property again. Last month, during their third debate, G.O.P. presidential hopefuls made proposals ranging from building up America’s nuclear submarine force to forbidding Chinese nationals to buy land in the United States. Gov. Ron DeSantis boasted, “I banned China from buying land in the state of Florida.”

Florida is just one of several states that are passing laws prohibiting the sale of residential, business or agricultural property to Chinese nationals, Chinese-owned companies or the Chinese government near military facilities, airports and other critical infrastructure. In many states, restrictions also apply to those from Iran, Russia, North Korea and other countries of concern. To date, at least 15 states have enacted laws restricting foreign land ownership, including Florida, Virginia, Alabama and Montana; about 20 other states have bills pending. Some have been introduced at the federal level.