Three Chilean nationals arrested by the Scottsdale Police Department (SPD) over a string of burglaries in Arizona and California were originally allowed to enter the United States as tourists.
Scottsdale Police Chief Jeff Walther confirmed in a Tuesday press conference that three Chileans the department arrested Sunday entered the country using the U.S. State Department’s visa waiver program, which allows citizens of other countries to remain in the United States for 90 days if the purpose for their travel is business or tourism.
Walther confirmed 23-year-old Sebastian Jesus Parraguez Soto overstayed his visa waiver and is now in the United States illegally, but that the unnamed 17-year-old and 32-year-old Grecia Romanduski Gaete Castillo were in the country legally when arrested.
“All three came here legally on the visa waiver program, that’s how the Chilean nationals are coming in, these burglary groups are coming in,” the police chief offered, explaining there are “hundreds if not thousands coming in through the visa waiver program that are committing residential burglaries” across the United States.
He declared, “This is not a Scottsdale issue, this is not a Valley issue, this is not an Arizona issue, this is a national issue. We have to be willing to start asking some hard questions of our federal government.”
In a Monday press release, Walther explained that the foreign nationals were arrested over a period of several hours between Sunday night and Monday morning.
Castillo was arrested earlier “after she was seen by detectives” leaving a neighborhood before 9 p.m., and the two males were arrested “in a desert area near Pima and Jomax Roads” as police searched for suspicious individuals using a helicopter and drones following police reports.
Walther said the suspects admitted they were in the country to burglarize American homes during questioning.
U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake responded to the arrests by reiterating her pledge to help secure the southern border if elected in a post to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“These ‘tourists’ traveled 5,341 miles from Chile to Scottsdale to burglarize our homes,” Lake wrote before declaring her likely Democratic opponent, Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03), “has no interest in securing our border to protect families.”
These three “tourists” traveled 5,341 miles from Chile to Scottsdale to burglarize our homes.
The #BidenBorderCrisis is coming to a neighborhood near you.@RubenGallego has no interest in securing our border to protect families.
In the Senate, it will be my #1 priority.… pic.twitter.com/ZglT2XnRSj
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) March 12, 2024
As Walther noted during his press conference, experts and government officials have warned a growing number of organized groups from Chile and Colombia appear to be traveling to the United States to burglarize American homes.
Though multiple criminal organizations are burglarizing Americans, a December 2023 report explained activity from South American Theft Groups (SATG) has been reported in California, Delaware, New York, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
