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Alien land laws were a series of legislative attempts to discourage Asian and other "non-desirable" immigrants from settling permanently in U.S. states and territories by limiting their ability to own land and property.
An “Alien Land Law” was passed by the California legislature in 1913. The law granted aliens eligible for U.S. citizenship plenary property ownership rights but limited “aliens ineligible to citizenship” to those rights explicitly granted by treaties.
The Alien Land Law, in short, was designed to effectuate a purely racial discrimination, to prohibit a Japanese alien from owning or using agricultural land solely because he is a Japanese alien. It is rooted deeply in racial, economic and social antagonisms.
The California Alien Land Law of 1913 (also known as the Webb–Haney Act) prohibited "aliens ineligible for citizenship" from owning agricultural land or possessing long-term leases over it, but permitted leases lasting up to three years.
May 3, 2024 · After the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Law ended immigration from China, the Alien Land Law targeted nearly 40,000 Japanese people living in California. It empowered prosecutors to file escheat actions against Japanese residents, asking courts to turn their land over to the state.
California Alien Land Laws. The case of Oyama v. California developed from the 1913 and 1920 Alien Land Laws passed in California. In accordance with those laws, persons ineligible to become citizens of the United States were prohibited from owning land.
There are plans to make it into a small museum dedicated to the Japanese immigrant experience and to Jukichi Harada’s battle against California’s alien land laws. Although most of Ken and Jukichi’s children are now deceased, a museum, Harold hopes, will ensure the preservation of the house on Lemon Street, one man’s legacy to his family ...
