McCarthy Accuses Mayorkas Of Letting Organized Crime Ring From Chile To Abuse Immigration Process

had a briefing today from the FBI Homeland Security and a number of Law Enforcement Officers throughout Southern California but I'm not here to get the briefing because the FBI warned me of what's happening in this country when it comes to crime or Homeland Security I'm here because of an old friend I served in the State Assembly with was now your district attorney Todd Spitzer text me one day so we have these unusual circumstances that are happening when it comes to residential and business crime then it seems that it's been tied to those who are coming from Chile an organized situation of a crime significant that is ravaging Southern California when I looked into the background of it 40 Nations around the world some of our closest allies we have a Visa waiver program avesta that individuals can enter and get a Visa for 90 days every two years and come to America these are countries like France in the UK the only South American country that has a Visa waiver program with is Chile in doing so between the two Nations we normally are able to look at the criminal background before an individual is able to enter our country especially after 9 11 with yes the program coming through action answering 15 questions paying 21 dollars Chile is a little different than some of the others they don't allow us to look at the criminal background when they're in Chile and now what we are finding with more than 350 000 people from Chile coming here in the last year out of a country of only 19 million organized crime is raiding our homes they're sophisticated they don't come and break in the front door they put cell phone jamming knock off your Wi-Fi so your home security doesn't work they enter on the Second Story normally coming off during the golf course and they raid the house stealing the safe they wear uniforms and camouflage outfits but then they work with China putting the money back into South America the difficult part here is we don't need new legislation to stop this the Secretary of State the president United States and Homeland Security secretary has all the power in the world cut it off instantaneously to say no you will not allow to have the Visa waiver program until we could have a background check then my question was does the homeland security Secretary of my orcas know about it yes he does he's provided data to DA's throughout America that has become a major problem the FBI has task forces just to dealing with this going back to South America my concern is they have not taken the action the secretary has ignored the protection of America if you have ever been robbed in your house you lose more than just your property you lose the sense of safety you question who drives by your house again you question when you walk into your house will you be safe your children don't know if they'll be safe sleep with knife and others this does not have to be the case So based upon the information that we have gotten today for the thanks of Todd Spitzer and the law enforcement when we mark up Appropriations coming in the next weeks we will put a provision in there because secretary mayorkas will not act that we will not allow them to use money when it comes to Chile for the Visa wa wa waiver program until this issue is solved so Americans are safe this is not just an issue in Southern California this is across the country you'll hear from if some of the police Chiefs will talk when they arrest somebody because of the criminal friendly law of a California the sanctuary cities and State there's no consequences for these people when they get caught they're not in jail anymore they're out they don't have to post the Bell you can't warn the next place that they're going to there's one story we were told about some individuals they were able to arrest two days later they get a call from a police chief in Washington saying those are the people we're trying to catch because they were robbing us too they're already out and when they're just provided a date to come back do you think they show up no because of the criminal friendly laws that this state and this Governor has been signing makes us less safe fortunately we have law enforcement in Southern California that works very hard to protect us we need to be able to provide the consequences to continue for them to be able to do their job because the Secretary of Homeland will not act we in Congress will to make sure that we are making our streets safer again just like we said in our commitment to America I want to give a special thanks to the district attorney of Orange County Todd Spencer it wasn't because FBI came to me or Homeland Security because he saw in his job a rise in crime from a specific individuals coming from Chile that he reached out to an old friend and said you need to know about this and as we learned more about it we watched from Young Kim Michelle Steele and Ken Calvert to take actions with us to make our streets safer I want to give you the D.A of Orange County who does his job which I've known him for years 24 hours a day to make us a little safer Todd schnitzel thank you thank you for being here I I'm the speaker McCarthy for a long time several decades when we served together and Mr Speaker I'm Starstruck I mean I've known you for a long time but I'm I'm so impressed that you would come here today to spend some time with us when I texted the speaker about 15 minutes later his one of his senior staffers immediately responded to me and I talked about this document this is an unclassified document distributed by Homeland Security entitled South American theft group activities September of 2022. and at the same time we in Orange County were dealing with unprecedented home burglaries and we were dealing with a large percentage of those home burglaries involving Chilean Nationals who were here on the electronic system for travel authorization which we commonly call the escap program what I found alarming about this document is at the bottom there's an admonition that I am allowed as a member of law enforcement to read and look at this document but I'm not allowed to distribute it to anybody or face a violation of the United States law and potential prosecution and I will tell you inside this document there are photographs of over 400 individuals who have been arrested in the United States from Chile in violation of the esta Visa program just in September the date this was published in 2022 just in the month of September 211 Chilean Nationals were arrested across this country in just that one month we learn today in briefings with the FBI and Homeland Security that the FBI has been concentrating on transnational gangs since 2018 that the FBI itself noticed an uptick in Chileans committing these crimes in 2019 that Ventura County who's represented here today and participated in the briefing has been keeping documentation and statistics of this problem we've learned today that the FBI has a network of 750 members who are monitoring this program across our country and they've been working together for years to oversee this problem [Music] we learn today that 3 000 individuals have been referred to ice for deportation just in January of 2022 alone and we learn today from both Homeland and from the FBI and I want to thank those individuals for participating in their agencies for allowing them to come brief these distinguished members of Congress and our distinguished member of the assembly assemblyman phone we learned today that they have an opinion and their opinion is there is quote No Doubt that this is a pervasive problem in the United States so I asked myself this question why should I as one of 58 district attorneys in California have to text my old friend who is in third in line to the presidency of the United States in order to get this major jeopardization of Public Safety addressed in America when I believe there's people in Washington who are adamantly responsible every single day to solve this problem and one of the things Kevin relied on me when he was my leader and I was his whip on the floor of the assembly was that I would read the statutes and I would understand the law and then I would bring that to the attention of the floor in the legislature right and I can tell you what the law is secretary mayorkas and secretary blinken have the absolute authority to immediately declare Chile as a high-risk country they have the absolute ability to temporarily suspend them as a high-risk country from the Visa waiver program and they can through further investigation potentially terminate them permanently Chile is the only South American country that remains in the program the majority of the South American countries Argentina and Colombia have already been uh prohibited from participating in the program the secretaries must immediately find that Chile is a high-risk country the other thing I want to share with you is I received a letter from the ambassador to Chile to the United States two days ago and he told me something again that I found extraordinary first of all he was apologetic and I appreciate his sentiment but he informed us that in 2022 350 [Music] 000. Chileans came into the United States under this esta Visa program in a country with 19.5 million people that's 10 percent of the Orange County population with no background checks so my prosecutors when they go to court for these burglaries and we arrested from Chile we don't know their background we don't know their criminal history they're let out on zero bail they're let out with no consequences just in order to appear at some future date and guess what a hundred percent of the Chileans who we who have been arrested by law enforcement and who we have filed on and are Prosecuting we have a hundred percent no-show at Future appearances big shocker nobody has showed up for their future court appearance this is jeopardizing Public Safety it is a disaster for our communities it has permeated the country it is scaring the heck out of our population you may have remembered that scene I think it was in Silence of the Lambs when you have somebody surveying a house to see if he could go in and hurt those people that's what they're doing with that ghillie suit that you saw in our pre-briefing they're hiding in the bushes they're lying in weight they're watching us they're surveying us so they can go in and steal from us and I'm not putting up with it anymore and my good friend Kevin McCarthy The Honorable speaker of the house and his distinguished members are here today and I can't thank them enough because enough is enough and we need to protect the public and now I'm going to introduce two citizens who have the just they want to come and tell you their story because they were recently victimized by Chileans and they're willing to tell you their story in a public forum which is Brave and so we're not going to identify them by name and I would ask that you'd respect that and and and not try to inquire we won't tell you anyway it's a pending case but please they want to tell you their story we want you to hear their story and I'd ask them to come forward at this time thank you for this opportunity to tell our story born and raised in Orange County I have watched crime rates rise in recent years many of us now keep our doors locked at all times we have automatic lights we have alarm systems and even house sitters for when we leave town a few weeks ago my husband and I had all of these things set in place when our home was burglarized at first I was in shock I could barely speak I felt invaded violated and unsafe in my own home it felt like a huge wave had come and crashed over us I felt a sick pit in my stomach I couldn't bear to be in our bedroom for the first several nights in fact I could hardly sleep I didn't want to speak to anyone and I felt extremely anxious we had lost much financially we had lost our feeling of security we had lost sentimental things that we would never see again my heart was broken it has caused me to change how I look at people in situations now if I see a car slowed down by our house I worry they are casing it I have memories of shattered glass papers and empty drawers scattered everywhere I feel like I'm living a nightmare what if we had been home would we have been in danger friends and neighbors have called me worried that it may happen to them since our burglary we have heard from our friends of nine other homes that were recently burglarized in the center as ours these local families are having the same anxiety pains and loss that we are experiencing people don't feel safe in their homes anymore it is time to make changes to protect ourselves our families and our communities thank you hi my name is Michelle Steele and I represent 45th congressional districts 13 cities in Orange County North Orange County and three cities in Los Angeles County from the start of this new majority Republicans have made it clear that we will do whatever it takes to protect Americans including supporting our local law enforcement and hoarding criminals accountable for their actions the stories we heard today about Chilean organized Prime Rings targeting our communities are deeply disturbing in 2021 the FBI attempted to have Chile removed from the Visa waiver program after the Chilean government refused to provide criminal history record of its citizens who are using this program to enter into the United States to date DHS has not approved the FBI's application to be moved Chilly from the program as a result criminals have been able to legally enter our country without any resistance take advantage of Visa waiver program and live in the sanctuary state that prevents local law enforcement from reporting these individuals to ice while there has been a rise in Chilean criminals over the years in California we also heard today about how this is these sophisticated criminals operation have become more active in many other states including New York Ohio and Florida the top of this these offenders are committing this criminal act in the United States right before they fly back home to Chile making it even more difficult for police to arrest these perpetrators we must improve the Visa waiver program and prevent international criminal organization groups like this from entering into our country for example there are other qualified countries such as Uruguay who could replace Chile secretary mayorkas has failed to protect our communities while Sacramento continues to turn a blind eye on the safety of our constituents as International thieves use the century State status as a way of shielding from any threat of deportation it's concerning to hear from so many Californians today who have direct experience with this issue at the path forward is clear moving forward we must end the cycle of crime that is hurting California families and businesses we are obligated to protect our constituents safety and allow police officers to do their job thank you good afternoon my name is Ken Calvert I represent a significant part of Riverside County and unfortunately these Chilean gangs have also been involved in burglaries in and throughout the Inland Empire so not only do we have a porous border and a ineffective Sacramento to deal with crime in general now we have these Chilean gangs operating throughout the state of California and indeed throughout the United States with instructions of the speaker I will work immediately as a senior member of the Appropriations Committee to to suspend this program the esta Visa program uh we'll uh work to get that done immediately so with that I'll turn that over to Young Kim thank you first of all I want to welcome our Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy to Orange County thank you so much for being here to shut the light on the Chilean related gang activities that's happening right here in Orange County because that's hurting not just my constituents in the California 48th congressional district but all of us so we just heard from the victims of the law enforcement about how the South American theft groups are abusing the Visa waiver program and sending criminals to burglarize my constituents right here in Orange County I just had a meeting this morning with the Mayors within my 40th congressional district and I heard from them from Villa Park to Orange to Mission Viejo especially in Laguna Hills Laguna Hills along the mayor was telling me that in the last six months they have an 86 reported home deliveries and robberies related to these activities and I'm sure Orange County D.A Todd Spitzer is more aware of this but it is also alarming to me personally to know that more Asian American homes are also being the targets of the home burglaries South American theft groups they run a very very sophisticated operations so you know the members of these gangs received training in South America they traveled to United States without you know with just a tourist visa because again it is a country that is Given that special Visa waiver program and all they have to do is go online and then apply for the esta program where according to our mou between our two countries the passengers that are traveling when they apply they have to answer those questions and talk about whether or not they have the criminal history obviously they lie we don't know that and the way that we vet those passengers coming from Chilean to the United States we have no way of knowing it the pro the system is broken but they come here with those tourist passports they surveil homes for weeks and they carry out those burglaries that score hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of goods and they sell that online or overseas and launder those funds through the Chinese crime syndicates SDA Spitzer can attest to this more like I said they target the Asian American households the Chilean government is required to properly vet passengers coming to the United States but what we heard today is that is not the case and that is not happening that is really concerning given the number of individuals with criminal histories traveling to the United States with those tourist visas and passports that is so this is a threat to our national security and it's a public safety right here in Orange County and for years there hasn't been enough action from our government to hold the Chilean government accountable for failing to properly vet people that's why I let the Outreach approach and I send a letter to the Department of Homeland Security and state department on this issue with bipartisan colleagues when my colleagues from Orange County as well including Congressman Lou Korea this is a bipartisan issue and I'm committed to working with our local law enforcement officials who are standing here with us and my colleague standing right here with us to put an end to this and keep our community safe and I am definitely going to be one of those strong voices to make sure that this program ends in Chile thank you [Music] good afternoon I'm assembly member Vince Vaughn I want to thank the speaker for inviting me uh to hear what's going on now earlier in Orange County and Ventura but also throughout California in the United States and how Sacramento and the state legislature can do a better job in partnering with our local and our federal counterparts speaker McCarthy and my colleagues are standing behind me and our law enforcement are completely right California is going in the wrong direction with its ill-conceived soft on crime policies and now we see data and reports that International organized crime city syndicates are exploiting our lacks crime laws in California district attorney Spitzer has a unique perspective on this and I appreciate his leadership having served in the state legislature and now is Prosecuting criminals Californians and US included have watched California change before our eyes and it has not gotten better especially when they see Rising crime across our communities and we cannot sit back and do nothing time and time again we see residents being victimized by criminals yet the out-of-touch policies coming out of Sacramento being signed by Governor Newsom are protecting criminals over victims there are a number of policies that California could enact right now to help fix this destructive problem we have action that is going to be taken on a national level but we need to give our law enforcement and our district attorney's more tools that requires Governor Newsom to reverse course and look at the real world consequences of his policies Governor Newsom can fix the broken bail system he can increase accountability and penalties for criminal activities and he could repeal Prop 47 to start and help us do that he can foster more coordination between local state and federal law enforcement agencies not tie the hands of our local law enforcement that was the message heard loud and clear the lack of coordination right now that we see because our agencies are being hamstrung from communicating with each other the rising crimes terrorizing our communities are disgraced but we are now seeing the growing extent of criminal activity that's happening that span our state and Across the Nation Governor Newsom should focus on keeping California safe by working with all sides on all levels and with other states unfortunately we aren't seeing that right now we need to give our law enforcement and our district attorney's more tools to keep our community safe and I'm committed to do that so with that let me hand it back to speaker McCarthy for questions and answers thank you I want to thank all the members for joining us I want to thank all the police Chiefs for the work they do and the law enforcement to protect us they told us a story that they're spending a lot of resources a lot of overtime at night to try to secure their communities secretary mayorkas could solve all that for us he has the power right now he has the knowledge of what's Happening across this country to stop the Visa waiver program for chile until they allow us to look at the backgrounds the criminal backgrounds of who's entering our country if he will not act we will take that action in the next two weeks inside our Appropriations we want our community to be safe we want our communities to feel as though they're safe in their own homes right now we are not and we will change all that with that let's take a few questions yes sir can you can you ask your questions hi Mr Speaker good to see you again um have you spoken to the Secretary of Homeland Security about this specifically if so what did he saved you that if not what you mean I haven't been able to speak to the secretary directly but I will I would hope he would take action today as you know it's a bipartisan issue um they don't pick the homes based upon where somebody's registered it goes throughout our entire country the challenge here that I'll ask them the secretary why hasn't he briefed Congress about it why hasn't he told us why has he omitted this portion from the report he has to provide to us every two years to the Judiciary Committee he will come before the committee next month I hope he's prepared to answer this question because on a bipartisan level we want America protected if he won't take action we will yes sir oh I'm sorry okay you just whoever has the mic oh uh I'm gonna obtained a letter today from the Chilean ambassador to another Congressional member saying that they have been in Virginia Department of Security for a few months about a new agreement where they will provide some of these criminal records the best applicants to the United States they say they're closer to bring enough person even briefed on hand these negotiations and second if they didn't agreement then again my first reaction would be let's stop the Visa wait program until the agreement is solved why would we continue to allow if 350 000 Chileans are coming to America every single year we have a rise in crime why wouldn't we just stop that program until the agreement is reached I imagine agreement will be reached faster if the program would stop I'd rather protect Americans instead of the feelings of the Chileans whether they're getting this done right or not so I would direct the Secretary of Homeland to stop the program today until we get a fix if it's not fixed by next week we will put it into our bill who has the mic yes uh [Music] questions um representative here okay how families in the new like very good for example we have other people um as you may know China's ambassador to South Korea warned that those who bet that China will lose out to the US will certainly register well he gave me three questions there first I'd say to the Ambassador he is wrong I wouldn't have bet against the United States I wouldn't forget against freedom I wouldn't bet against democracy um and I would stop dealing with Putin and supporting their rise inside Ukraine as well I don't think anybody in the world wants to stand with him when it comes to that but first and foremost what I would say it's a great honor to serve with the Michelle Steele and young Kim they do an amazing job for all Americans one thing I'm very proud of is the expansion within our party across this nation of who's serving with us I think it's very important when we live in America that everybody becomes an American and everybody has a voice everybody has an opportunity to have that voices heard and we want more voices at the table first thing you want too as America you want a community that is safe it's one thing to think that a street is not safe but of all Americans your home should be the very safest place in your life when you become a victim of your home where do you go for security where do you sleep at night where do you have your children it takes away every sense of security that you have with a home evasion we have the data and the records to show what the rise in crime that's coming from Chile can be stopped at the Secretary of Homeland will not do his job we will it's as simple as that and it shouldn't take a district attorney sitting in Orange California Orange County when the rest of the nation is being victimized to have to stop this the secretary knows it he provides it in data and he should have done something about it and he shouldn't wait around to the negotiations are done the best way to have the negotiations solved in the manner to protect all Americans is to do it now and we should look at the entire program with that thank you very much thank you

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Length: 33min 53sec (2033 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 17 2023