Speaker McCarthy, in Orange County, threatens to pull funding from Chile visa program – Orange County Register

Speaker of the House, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (CA-20), flanked by Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, left, and Representatives Michelle Steel (CA-45) and Young Kim (CA-40) during a roundtable discussion about Chile’s continued status as a Visa Waiver Program Country in Santa Ana, CA, on Friday, June 16, 2023. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

In Orange County Friday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy threatened to use congressional appropriations to strip funding for a visa program for Chileans.

Dubbed by authorities as “burglary tourism,” Chilean nationals, authorities say, are entering Southern California on ESTA, Electronic System for Travel Authorization, a visa waiver program that allows citizens of 40 countries to travel to the U.S. for tourism or business for 90 days or less without first obtaining a visa.

“We don’t need new legislation to stop this. The administration has enough power,” McCarthy said, calling on the Department of Homeland Security to place a moratorium on the program.

“If it’s not fixed by next week, we will put it into our (appropriations) bill,” said the Bakersfield Republican.

McCarthy was joined in Santa Ana by Reps. Young Kim, R-Anaheim Hills, and Michelle Steel, R-Seal Beach, as well as District Attorney Todd Spitzer for a briefing from federal and local law enforcement, followed by a press conference.

Residential break-ins attributed to tourist burglars, known as “Lanzas Internacionales,” or international thieves in the Spanish-speaking world, are on the rise, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said earlier this year.

Chile is the only South American country participating in ESTA. The system collects biographic — not biometric — information and requires applicants to answer eligibility questions about communicable diseases and arrests and convictions for certain crimes, along with past history of visa revocation or deportation.

Authorization through ESTA allows tourists to travel by ship or plane to the U.S. but does not determine whether they will actually be admitted into the country. That decision is made by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers when they arrive.

Several members of the Orange County congressional delegation, in both parties, raised concerns ahead of Friday’s roundtable.

Kim and Democratic Reps. Lou Correa and Mike Levin on Thursday sent a joint letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas decrying the “lack of enforcement of passenger vetting requirements for Chilean nationals seeking entry into the U.S.” through ESTA.

The three urged the Biden administration to designate Chile as a country of concern and communicate with Chilean authorities that “noncompliance with passenger vetting requirements will result in Chile’s termination” from the visa waiver program.

Correa and Levin — who were not part of the roundtable with McCarthy — also sent a letter to Chilean Ambassador Juan Gabriel Valdés, outlining “deep concerns” that Chile is “neither meeting the information-sharing requirements” for participation in the visa waiver program nor complying with a 2014 agreement that outlines a “mutual understanding of and an accordance to share information to prevent and combat serious crimes.”

Valdés, in a response to Correa that was provided by the congressman’s office, said his government has already implemented a “series of actions” to address the allegations. He said Homeland Security and Chile are on the cusp of an agreement after negotiations over the past few months. The Chilean government, he said, will provide criminal records of ESTA applicants to the U.S.

“The Government of Chile condemns these acts as well as any misuse of the Visa Waiver Program, and this has been expressed from the most senior political level,” said Valdés.

Correa said that his office is working with Homeland Security, local law enforcement and the Chilean government to address how federal, state and local governments can better coordinate data sharing between the two countries and prevent people from coming into the U.S. to target Southern Californians. Earlier this month, Correa met with Valdés as well as Chilean First Secretary Diego Bunster. The meeting was promising, he said.

“They were very embarrassed that this was going on and pledged to do everything they could in their power to cooperate with us,” Correa said.

Prior to Friday’s briefing with McCarthy, Kim said she met with the mayors in her district, including Laguna Hills Mayor Janine Heft, who informed her that over the last six months, the city experienced “86 reported home burglaries and robberies related to these criminal activities.”

Bradley Schoenleben, an OCDA senior deputy district attorney, said out of the 150 cases he’s handled in the last year, 28 involve Chilean nationals. But that’s only a portion of them, Schoenleben said, because he doesn’t handle all cases.

And although Colombia is not part of the countries in the ESTA visa waiver program, police have also arrested Colombian nationals who allegedly operate in similar groups.

Last year, homeowners in wealthy neighborhoods across Orange County were hit hard: coastal neighborhoods and homes bordering trails, parks and golf courses in communities such as Talega in San Clemente, the Hunt Club in San Juan Capistrano, Monarch Bay in Dana Point, Dover Shores in Newport Beach, Ocean Ranch in Laguna Niguel and Nellie Gail in Laguna Hills reported multiple crimes on the neighborhood app Nextdoor.

In 2019, federal, state and local law enforcement agencies joined forces to go after gang units comprised of Chilean nationals suspected of committing a string of thefts in Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Orange counties, including a $1.2 million heist at a Laguna Niguel jewelry store.

Meanwhile, McCarthy said Friday that he hasn’t yet met with Mayorkas.

Staff writers Scott Schwebke and Mona Darwish contributed to this report.

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