Central Wisconsin News

Reps. Tom Tiffany (WI-07) and Derrick Van Orden (WI-03) have addressed a letter to Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett, seeking clarification on the case of Alejandro Jose Coronel Zarate, a Venezuelan migrant who is not a U.S. citizen according to the Prairie du Chien Police Department.

Mr. Coronel Zarate was recently charged with domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, and strangulation by the Prairie du Chien Police Department. He reportedly had active warrants in Dane County for similar offenses, including false imprisonment and battery.

Given that Dane County was classified as “non-cooperative” with federal immigration authorities as recently as June by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Reps. Tiffany and Van Orden requested additional information regarding Dane County law enforcement’s interaction with Mr. Coronel Zarate.

The lawmakers posed several questions:

- Does Dane County still maintain a “non-cooperation” policy or any other policy that limits or restricts communication or coordination with ICE?

- Prior to the incident in Prairie du Chien, was Mr. Coronel Zarate ever arrested or detained by Dane County law enforcement?

- If so, did Dane County notify ICE officials that Mr. Coronel Zarate was in custody?

- Did your agency receive an immigration detainer request from ICE officials regarding Mr. Coronel Zarate?

- If so, did Dane County honor that detainer and attempt to turn Mr. Coronel Zarate over to ICE?

“These reckless and misguided 'revolving door' policies are not only illegal; they also needlessly put other American communities at risk by allowing dangerous criminal aliens back out onto the streets to create new victims rather than remanding them to ICE for detention and removal. We hope that did not happen in this case,” stated Reps. Tiffany and Van Orden.

You can read the full letter here.

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