Burglary Visa Holders Enabling Crime Wave

A different, more inventive crime wave is sweeping Southern California. Instead of crude smash-and-grab robberies perpetrated by lowlife thugs or “newcomers,” as President Biden refers to them, these professional criminals have been legally admitted to the U.S. The offenders, mostly Chilean, are savvy enough to take advantage of one of the most easily scammed immigration programs, the State Department’s Visa Waiver Program. Under VWP guidelines, any of the 46 participating nations’ nationals can without obtaining a visa and, if they have a valid, online-obtainable Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), remain in the U.S. for up to 90 days presumably for business or pleasure. But as is the case with all immigration-related actions either at the border or in the interior, federal agencies do not follow up on those who enter. Consequently, anything is possible, and in the Chileans’ case and perhaps with other nationalities also, what happens is burglary. Since 2014, Chile has been the only Latin American nation VWF-eligible; Chileans have mastered the so-called “burglary visa.”

Shortly after arriving in the U.S., the criminals stake out affluent U.S neighborhoods, and ransack homes for profit. The predators use cellphone-jamming equipment to disrupt homeowners’ Wi-Fi networks and to elude their expensive security systems. In some cases, investigators caught the intruders hiding in brush wearing camouflage suits, waiting for homeowners to leave. Once the owners have left, the thieves sneak inside or break in through the second floor, where homeowners are less likely to have alarms on their doors and windows. Mission accomplished, the crooks sell off the stolen property online to U.S. or overseas buyers.

Orange County, California, District Attorney Todd Spitzer first warned about the brazen robbers last year. "These are not crimes of opportunity," Spitzer cautioned in July. "These are carefully calculated and planned attacks on what should be our safe place – our homes." The typical crime tourist operates on Friday through Sunday between 5-9 p.m. and ransacks a home for money, jewelry, designer purses and entire safes.

Over a five year period, Chilean VWPs were responsible for hundreds of robberies across Southern California, and their network is now nationwide with thousands of victims across the country. In Los Angeles, where millions of dollars’ worth of goods have been stolen from thousands of homes, the LAPD created a special task force to deal exclusively with the foreign national thieves. Chief Dominic Choi confirmed that the city has experienced “a significant increase in burglaries from organized groups that are outside this country, that are coming into the country, and they are targeting high end residents." Police departments from Arizona to Delaware have given a heads up to unsuspecting residents.

VWP enables extensive criminal activity that violates homeowners’ rights and puts neighborhoods on high alert. On its face, VWP is fraught with risk. The alternative---obtaining a business, B-1 or a tourist visa, B-2--- is easily done. During FY 2023, the Department of State issued nearly eight million B-1 and B-2 visas. Ostensibly, countries are only VWP-eligible if they meet certain criteria, like maintaining historically low overstay rates and providing information-sharing. Lately these guidelines have fallen short in their paramount task of protecting Americans from ne’er-do-wells.

A Federation for American Immigration Reform report noted that, because of Venezuela’s collapse, Chile is facing its own illegal alien crisis. Venezuelan gangs have become as well-established in Chile as they are in America. These gangs recruit local Chileans who can then enter the U.S. visa-free, an ease of entry that presents ongoing criminal threats to Americans. Islamist terrorists with British passports have already struck on American soil, and the VWP allows threats to continue.

Included among the approved countries list along with the U.K. are Belgium, Germany, and France, nations which have an ever-increasing ISIS population. Some could be Western European citizens, so-called homegrown terrorists, who would qualify for the VWP. The Moscow concert hall bombing that left more than 140 dead is a reminder of ISIS’ ability to plot and carry out murderous plans.

With the globe on fire, and with the U.S.' enemies list, domestic and abroad, growing longer, a dangerous inverse relationship exists: the more treacherous world conditions grow, the easier entry into the U.S. becomes. Under the Biden administration, ten million or more have crossed the Southwest border including a large contingent of adult Chinese males and an unprecedented influx of Venezuelans migrants. Record numbers have entered through the Northern border, eight million arrived on tourist and business visas, hundreds of thousands of non-immigrants came in on employment or student visas, and more than one million new permanent resident green cards were issued. The Census Bureau’s Population Clock estimates that one new international migrant arrives every 27 seconds. With so many foreign nationals arriving so rapidly, keeping track of their movements is a challenge made more difficult because so few law enforcement officials are seeking them out. Their exact locations are mostly unknown. Little wonder that FBI Director Christopher Wray said that in his 25-year law enforcement career, he’s “hard-pressed to think of a time where so many threats to our public safety and national security were so elevated all at once.”

Joe Guzzardi is an Institute for Sound Public Policy analyst. Contact him at jguzzardi@ifspp.org