Lots of people from enemy countries like China, Iran and Russia are buying lots of our land - and it's now a national security threat.

One week after learning a Chinese billionaire secretly purchased over 200,000 acres of farmland in Oregon, we now learn of an even more frightening revelation. According to the Daily Mail, foreign developers, including those from China, Russia, Iran, and Venezuela, own 40 million acres of land in the United States, much of it near military bases.

Given the current state of the southern border, this could present a national security issue. 

There are many concerns, with some officials believing this revelation carries tremendous national security concerns. Moreover, a watchdog says the US government needs to keep track of who owns what land and where that land is located. In addition to concerns due to proximity to US military installations, there are also concerns about the integrity of America’s food supply chain. 

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) alleges that officials within the US government aren’t keeping tabs on what foreign countries own and suggests the number could actually be much more than 40 million acres. 

After the GAO released its data, a bipartisan group of lawmakers demanded the Biden administration clamp down on foreign ownership of American land, especially countries that are avowed enemies of the United States. 

According to a graphic from the American Farm Bureau Federation, much of the foreign-owned farmland is primarily owned by China, with concentrations in the southeastern United States and California. There are also significant pockets of land owned in Arizona and Utah. However, China also owns large swaths of farmland in the “food belt” of the United States. 

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana) said: “While we learn more about the specifics around this unfolding situation, it highlights the need for Congress to do more to protect American agricultural security and prevent our foreign adversaries from controlling our country’s food supply while also gaining access to land near sensitive military sites.” 

Meanwhile, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) slammed the Department of Agriculture, which could not say who owns what land. 

“This report confirms one of our worst fears: that not only is the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) unable to answer the question of who owns what land and where, but that there is no plan by the department to internally reverse this dangerous flaw that affects our supply chain and economy,” Newhouse said. 

“Food security is national security, and we cannot allow foreign adversaries to influence our food supply while we stick our heads in the sand.” 

According to GAO records, the USDA merely collects required data on paper and noted the agency “does not share timely data on foreign investments in agricultural land collected under the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978, as amended (AFIDA).” 

Under that act, foreigners acquiring or transferring agricultural land are required to file that information to the USDA. 

“USDA also does not sufficiently verify and conduct quality reviews to track the accuracy and completeness of its collected data,” the report says. 

The report said that unless the USDA improved its processes, the agency “cannot report reliable information to Congress or the public about where and how much U.S. agricultural land is held by foreign persons.” 

While the amount of land owned by foreign interests only amounts to just over 3% of private land in the US, the GAO report noted data was “sparse and unreliable.” 

That was highlighted recently when it was uncovered that Chinese billionaire Chen Tianqiao purchased $85 million worth of Oregon timberland (200,000 acres) over a decade ago. That transaction is not available from government records. Law Enforcement Today recently reported on that situation. 

“Recent reporting about Chen Tianqiao holding 200,000 acres of agricultural land does not appear to be accounted for in USDA’s data,” said Kimberly Gianopoulos, director of the GAO, to the Daily Mail. 

As we recently reported, Chen Tianqiao is a high-ranking member of the Chinese Communist Party. 

The Daily Mail further noted that Chinese investors currently own cropland in 28 states, or a total of 182,823 acres according to USDA records, which, as noted, are unreliable. That number covers the period through 2022. The total amount of farmland owned equals approximately $2 billion, which is multiples more than the $162 million worth owned only a decade ago. 

Much of the land is owned in Texas, with 192,000 acres, 49,000 acres in North Carolina and Missouri, and 34,000 acres in Utah. Records show that 130,000 acres of land in Val Verde County, Texas, is owned by a China-based billionaire. 

According to local realtors, the land was sold to Sun Guangxin, a former high-ranking officer in the Chinese military, for an estimated $110 million between 2016 and 2018, according to the Daily Mail. 

The outlet also read a report written by former CIA officials, which suggested Sun should be considered a national security risk by US authorities due to his close ties to the Chinese Communist Party. 

The USDA report noted that investors from 99 countries have claims on US land, including those from Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela. All told, investors from those nations, not considered friends of the US by any means, totals 95,000 acres of agricultural land. 

Some states have either implemented or proposed laws restricting foreign ownership of agricultural land. States with laws in place include Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, and Nebraska. Eighteen other states, including California, Texas, Florida, Virginia, and New York, have similar laws proposed. 

Among adversarial nations, four Cuba-based investors own 858 acres in the United States, spanning three states and Puerto Rico. 

According to the USDA report, Russia has four investors holding only 73 acres in four states, while North Korea has 32 investors who own 4,839 acres. 

Iran, which has made a hobby out of firing missiles at US military assets in the Mediterranean, has a total of 22 investors owning 2,463 acres. In comparison, Venezuela has 100 investors that own 28,218 acres. 

More concerning is a purchase made in 2022 by a Chinese chemical company, Fufeng Corp, which purchased 300 acres of farmland in North Dakota located only 20 minutes from Grand Forks Air Force Base, home to sensitive military drone technology. 

In a memo following that purchase, Air Force Major Jeremy Fox voiced his concerns given the land’s proximity to Grand Forks. 

“Some of the most sensitive elements of Grand Forks exist with the digital uplinks and downlinks inherent with unmanned air systems and their interaction with space-based assets,” he wrote. 

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) also spoke out against foreign land purchasing, vowing to support “Congressman Mike Gallagher’s preventing the Chinese Communist Party and other nations that hate America from owning American agricultural land.” 

“In the last deceased, China’s holdings of American ag land have increased by 5,300 percent,” she wrote on X. 

She also wrote Gallagher, pledging her support for his initiative. 

“The states and Congress must work together to defend our nation from the Chinese Communist Party, especially given the lack of sufficient action from the Biden administration.” 

Of all foreign countries, the largest farmland owners are from Canada, where investors hold 12.8 million acres of US farmland. The Netherlands follows it (4.9 million acres), followed by Italy (2.7 million acres), the UK (2.5 million acres), and Germany (2.3 million acres), which own a combination of agricultural and non-agricultural land. 

The breakdown of the above landowners includes 47 percent forests, and cropland accounted for 29 percent. In comparison, other agricultural land accounted for 22 percent—the remaining 2 percent comprised non-agricultural land, such as homesteads and roads.