A member of Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang has been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a mother and abusing her daughter in a small Wisconsin community after being arrested and released in Minneapolis earlier this year.
Republican Rep. Derrick Van Alden, whose grandchildren live within a mile of the Prairie du Chien home where a mother and daughter were held against their will and repeatedly victimized, told Fox News Digital that with the White House's open borders policy and sanctuary cities initiative, it's only a matter of time before tragedy strikes the community.
Alejandro Jose Coronel Zarate, 26, assaulted women and children “in particularly brutal circumstances” and assaulted his victims “over a period of time.” Prairie du Chien Police Chief Kyle Tainer said at a Sept. 9 press conference following Col. Zarate's arrest.
Coronel Zarate was charged Wednesday in Crawford County Court with sexual assault, assault, strangulation, suffocation, false imprisonment, child abuse and disorderly conduct. Reported by WXOWHe is being held in the Crawford County Jail on $10,000 bail.
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Alejandro Jose Coronel Zarate, a Venezuelan immigrant, was charged earlier this month by Prairie du Chien police with sexual assault, assault, strangulation, suffocation, false imprisonment, child abuse and disorderly conduct. (Crawford County Jail)
According to the criminal complaint, the mother later told police that Coronel Zarate had assaulted her again on Sept. 4. During the incident, Coronel Zarate told her, “I will not be punished. I am a criminal,” she told police.
Mr. Tainer said that Coronel Zarate had Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua This crime started in the nation's prisons and has since taken root in several communities across America.
Its members have been accused of a series of crimes that have garnered national attention, including the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley and the shooting deaths of two New York Police Department officers during an arrest in June.
“It doesn't matter what your political stance is. This is not a Democrat issue. It's not an independent or a libertarian issue. This is a human rights issue,” Van Orden said at a press conference on Sept. 9. “The human rights of American citizens are being violated. They are being kidnapped, raped and murdered by illegal immigrants who are criminals. This has to stop.”
Van Alden told Fox News Digital that his previous statements stand despite the backlash he has since received.
The town of Prairie du Chien, pictured, has a population of approximately 5,500. (Photo: Melina Mara/The Washington Post)
“They're calling us racists for publicizing the fact that a man with organized crime tattoos was allowed into the country by a Harris border agent, and that man happens to be Venezuelan,” Van Orden said.
Van Alden said: Legal immigration, He also pointed to immigrants who enter the state on temporary agricultural worker visas, noting that Wisconsin's agriculture industry relies on immigrants.
“Without migrant workers, dairies and farms would go out of business. Without migrant workers, dairies would close. If migrant workers want to come here to work and send money home, I welcome them 100 percent,” he said. “But it's not OK to let someone with tattoos who has ties to migrant gangs come in. We don't welcome illegal immigrants who have committed crimes here.”
Prairie du Chien police confirmed Zarate entered the U.S. in September 2023 at or near a port of entry in El Paso, Texas.
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Rep. Derrick Van Alden told Fox News Digital that his hometown community of 5,500 people is shocked by the heinous crime. (Courtesy of the Office of Congressman Derrick Van Alden)
“I've been to the border three times and they let guys in with gang tattoos and they do a health check before you cross the border. They don't want people with tuberculosis coming in so they do a health check,” Van Orden said in disbelief.
The former Navy SEAL said the attack has shaken his small community, but it's only a matter of time before immigrant crime occurs there.
“Why should a town of 5,500 people be afraid to let their kids play in their front yard? This wasn't the case three years ago.”
The gang member's arrest in Prairie du Chien wasn't his first run-in with police: In November 2023, he was detained on suspicion of receiving stolen property but was later released.
“Zarate was arrested in Minneapolis and Minnesota on property crimes. [Governor] “Tim Waltz,” Van Orden says, “and they released him because of the sanctuary city policy.”
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The images, published in a Customs and Border Protection intelligence bulletin, show Tren de Aragua's tattoos and identifying information.
An arrest warrant was issued for him in Dane County, Wisconsin, on December 1 on charges of strangulation and suffocation, false imprisonment, assault and disorderly conduct. In addition to federal policy, Van Orden also blamed Dane County Sheriff Calvin Barrett, a Democrat, for the incident earlier this month.
“Dane County Sheriff Calvin Barrett bears a great deal of personal responsibility, that's a fact,” Van Orden told Fox News Digital. [he] What cannot be denied is that an arrest warrant was issued for Mr. Zarate on charges of strangulation, false imprisonment, assault and disorderly conduct. That arrest warrant was issued by Mr. Zarate's office. If Mr. Zarate had spent more time fighting crime than complaining about Republicans on his Facebook page, Mr. Zarate would have been in custody and a mother and daughter would not have been sexually assaulted for several days.”
In a letter to Barrett earlier this month, Van Alden and Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany demanded an explanation for the arrest warrant for Coronel Zarate.
“Since Dane County was classified as 'uncooperative' with federal immigration authorities by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in June of this year, Congressmen Tiffany and Van Alden sent a letter requesting additional information about Dane County law enforcement's interactions with Coronel Zarate,” the two lawmakers' statement said.
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Barrett told Fox News Digital that the Republican accusations were simply a “baseless and nasty attempt to garner votes in battleground states for the next presidential election” and that her statements about being uncooperative were false.
“As sheriff, I will no longer tolerate disrespectful attacks on law enforcement by those seeking to politically woo my constituents. This investigation is an affront to the brave men and women of the Sheriff's Office who bravely put their lives on the line for our community,” Barrett said in an email.
“We urge the authors of this study to redirect their political theatrics in a different direction as they seek to recover from Vice President Kamala Harris' thorough, fact-based and strategic undermining of a presidential candidate,” Barrett said. “To avoid further scrutiny, we have not received any reports of people eating cats or dogs.”
