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Organized crime rings from Chile are continuing to exploit a dangerous loophole in the U.S. ESTA Visa Waiver program to enter the United States unlimited times over a two-year period without background checks, according to the OCDA, Todd Spitzer.
These criminals aren’t coming to the United States to visit Disneyland and other tourist destinations – they are coming here to steal, terrorizing Americans in their own homes.
From Orange County to San Diego to Maine and everything in between, organized crime rings are exploiting this loophole to create a direct pipeline in the United States to break into American homes and steal as much as they can as quickly as they can.
Orange County (Calif.) District Attorney Todd Spitzer appeared on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt Tuesday to discuss these sophisticated organized crime rings who are being let into the country with the Department of Homeland Security’s blessing – because the U.S. refuses to suspend Chile from the ESTA waiver program until it complies with the program rules and provide criminal background checks for its citizens.
And Americans are getting robbed blind as a result.
In 2022 alone, 350,000 Chilean nationals entered the U.S. through the ESTA program – without a single background check. Over the last year, hundreds of thousands more Chilean nationals have entered the U.S. through the ESTA program – without the required background check.
Four Chilean nationals were recently arrested and indicted in connection with breaking into Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow’s home while he was in Dallas playing the Cowboys in a Monday Night Football game. Court documents said the four arrests are part of the “ongoing investigation involving burglaries of multi-million-dollar homes in multiple states.”
Other high-profile athletes including Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce have had their homes burglarized while they were playing nationally televised games. The incidents led to the NFL warning players about how professional athletes have been targeted by South American crime rings.
It’s not just pro athletes who are being targeted. It is Americans who are having their sense of safety and security shattered with every broken window and every shattered sliding glass door – crimes that are being carried out by criminals who should have never been let into this country to begin with.
This is an easy fix – and it’s one we have been asking for years. The OCDA is urging the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security to immediately suspend Chile from the ESTA Visa Waiver program until it provides the required background checks.
And keep these criminals out of our homes.
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