Why ‘burglary tourists’ fly to US and target Indian-Americans

Balakrishna and Rama Sundar built their dream home in California, but now they want to shift out as soon as possible. Their house is in Dana Point, overlooking the ocean.

When burglars shattered the elevator door of their house with a sledgehammer thinking there was a safe behind it, they shattered their sense of safety and security too.

“We want to move away from here and I don’t feel very secure at all,” Rama Sundar told the CNN.

Balakrishna and Rama Sundar are among dozens of Asian Americans, including Indian-American people, who have been targeted by ‘burglary tourists’ or ‘crime tourists’.

Police in April busted such a gang in Seattle and arrested five burglars. They used rental properties and cars and frequently changed their location.

The US police arrested five men in South California who were suspected of committing at least 17 burglaries targeting Indian American and other South Asian residents in Kirkland, a suburb east of Seattle in Washington, and surrounding areas.

In the past five years, police have noticed a rise in burglars from South American countries coming to the US to commit robberies.

Last year, police in Maryland, North Carolina, and New York also made arrests in cases involving Chilean nationals who entered the US on visa waivers and were involved in luxury home burglaries.

While there’s no official count of how many crimes have been committed by these “burglary tourists”, it’s estimated to be at least in the hundreds.

For example, Ventura County, California, linked 175 residential burglaries to “transnational theft groups” between 2019 and mid-2023, reported the CNN.

WHY BURGLARY TOURISTS TARGET INDIAN-AMERICAN HOMES

The “burglary tourists” fly in from different South American countries like Chile, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru.

There have been media reports of burglars targeting homes in neighbourhoods with a high concentration of Indian-American families.

The reason behind this targeting can be stereotypes, with criminals believing that these families possess more gold jewellery, expensive items or cash, according to an American news portal.

Additionally, burglars may view Indian-American neighbourhoods as affluent or wealthy areas, assuming that these communities have higher incomes.

As a result, these criminals specifically target Indian-American homes in the hopes of finding valuable items and making a quick getaway.

These thefts can occur during the day or night, with criminals recce to determine the best time to strike.

HOW BURGLARS MISUSE US TOURIST VISAS AND VISA WAIVERS

The idea is that they travel to the US using tourist visas because it does not require a background check for travellers and allows them to visit legally. The problem is, these ‘tourists’ aren’t here for sightseeing.

Some of the burglars are also taking advantage of the US visa waiver programme.

The break-ins are part of a larger issue in which so-called “burglary tourists” enter the US from countries that qualify for visa waivers, prosecutors told CNN. The visa waivers allow a visit to the US for up to 90 days without a traditional tourist visa.

After entering the US, they join gangs that target properties of wealthy people.

These groups have been stealing items such as jewellery, watches, designer goods, cash, and gold. They do this either to send them back to their home country or to sell them while they are in the US before going back home.

The burglars tend not to carry guns. So, they are not charged with any gun-related offences. But sometimes they carry signal jamming devices to disable home security systems, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Chileans are often involved in these criminal groups, but there are also people from other South American countries like Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia.

HOMES OF ASIAN-AMERICAN BUSINESS OWNERS EASY TARGET

Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Chief Dominic Choi mentioned in a Police Commission meeting that there’s been a significant increase in burglaries by organised groups coming from outside the country, targeting wealthy homes.

Last year, Burbank police in California arrested a 33-year-old man from Chile. He was arrested after a woman hiding in her bathroom called the police when four men broke into her house through a sliding door.

Upper-middle-class Asian American neighbourhoods are being affected by this trend. Business owners who are Asian Americans are often targeted by “burglary tourism”.

“With a lot of Asian business owners, the whole family works in that business together and so when they are all at work, that leaves the home unattended and these groups will do their research. They may be in town for a few days just specifically looking for targets, and when they know the business owners, which is typically a family, is at work, they’ll burglarise the home,” reported NewsNation, an American news website.

Borders cripple movement, visas and visa waivers enable travel and tourism. However, the US is witnessing “burglary tourism”, which is posing a big danger to the safety of Asian-American neighbourhoods.