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4w ago

Arkansas Whites-Only Compound Faces Legal Scrutiny as Founders Detail Vetting and Land-Sale Model

Civil-rights lawyers say the project’s housing restrictions violate federal law despite the founders’ claim to be a private association.

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A home at Return to the Land, a community in rural Ravenden, Ark., where white nationalists are testing anti-discrimination housing laws by barring non-white, non-heterosexual residents, on Aug. 11, 2025. Housing rights experts say a community restricted to white residents is illegal, but the creators believe they could win a potential challenge in court in the current political climate. (Whitten Sabbatini/The New York Times)

Overview

  • New on-the-record interviews describe a screening process that includes in-person interviews, criminal checks, ancestry questionnaires and family photos to confirm applicants are white, with residency limited to white, heterosexual people.
  • Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office says its review is ongoing, and no lawsuit has been filed.
  • Return to the Land operates through an LLC that bought 160 acres in 2023, has about 40 residents and hundreds of $25 members, and sells roughly $6,600 shares tied to three-acre parcels.
  • The founders argue for a private-association or religious exemption, but the ACLU and fair-housing attorneys contend the setup violates the Fair Housing Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and could face suit.
  • Reporting details homeschooled children living on-site and recounts allegations that co-founder Peter Csere was arrested in Ecuador after a stabbing but not charged, which he says stemmed from self-defense.