Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach announced a new attempt to ban foreign ownership of Kansas farmland during a Feb. 6, 2024 news conference. (Rachel Mipro/Kansas Reflector)
TOPEKA — K ansas Attorney General Kris Kobach returned to the Statehouse to once again urge the Kansas Legislature to ban foreign land purchases in the state under the assumption countries such as China are attempting to spy on and influence the U.S.
The newest attempt to do so, Senate Bill 446 , would ban foreign individual and corporate purchases of three or more acres of land. Foreign land leases would be capped at less than two years.
“We are the only state in the breadbasket that has no prohibition whatsoever, no restriction whatsoever, on foreign nationals and foreign corporations purchasing our land, which means it’s open season,” Kobach said during a Tuesday news conference.
Kobach said the change would also prevent drug cartels from sweeping into the state.
“It’s not just China, it’s also Mexican drug cartels,” Kobach said. “Mexican drug cartels have purchased a huge amount of land in Texas, Oklahoma and California.”