Prairie du Chien is a sleepy town in Wisconsin, an example of small-town idyllic life in the Midwest. But now, the tiny town’s citizens refuse to let their children play outside because of a horrific incident involving a member of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang.
Alejandro Jose Coronel Zarate, 26, was arrested in Prairie du Chien after holding a mother and her young daughter hostage in their home and repeatedly assaulting them over several days.
Coronel Zarate was charged with several crimes, including sexual assault, battery, strangulation, suffocation, false imprisonment, child abuse, and disorderly conduct in Crawford County Court on Wednesday. He is currently in Crawford County Jail with a $10,000 cash bond.
The woman had suffered a prior assault by Coronel Zarate just weeks before. During the first assault, the gang member told the woman, “I can get away with it. I’m a criminal.”
In November 2023, Zarate was taken into custody for allegedly receiving stolen property but was later released in Tim Walz’s Minneapolis.
A warrant was issued for Zarate’s arrest in Dane County, Wisconsin, on December 1, 2023, for charges of strangulation, suffocation, false imprisonment, battery, and disorderly conduct. Wisconsin Republican Representatives Derrick Van Orden and Tom Tiffany sent a letter to Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett earlier this month demanding answers regarding the warrant for Coronel Zarate. Dane County was classified by ICE as “non-cooperative” with federal immigration authorities in June of 2024.
Van Orden, whose grandchildren live less than a mile from the Prairie du Chien home where the mother and daughter were brutally assaulted for days, told Fox News Digital that it was only a matter of time before “something tragic” happened in the community. He placed the blame squarely on the White House’s open-border policies and sanctuary city programs.
Prairie du Chien Police Chief Kyle Teynor mentioned that Coronel Zarate had tattoos that linked him to Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang. That ruthless gang started in the country’s prisons and has spread to several areas in the United States. Members of this gang are accused of committing serious crimes across the U.S., including the murder of a nursing student in Georgia and the shooting of two NYPD officers during an arrest in June.
At a press conference earlier this month, Van Orden stated that this issue isn’t about political party lines. He said that American citizens are facing violations of their human rights, including being kidnapped, raped, and murdered by criminal illegal aliens.
Van Orden explained that he has no problem with legal immigrants or those who come to the country on temporary agricultural worker visas. He pointed out that Wisconsin’s farming industries depend on these workers.
But he draws a line at allowing illegal immigrants with gang ties into the country.
Van Orden stated that he has been to the border three times. He expressed disbelief that someone with gang tattoos was allowed into the country, especially since they would have been seen during their medical screening.
The former Navy SEAL mentioned that the attack had shaken his small community but believed it was only a matter of time before migrant crime would affect them. He questioned why a town of 5,500 people should be scared to let their kids play in their front yards, saying it wasn’t like this three years ago.
Despite the horrific nightmare suffered by the Prairie du Chien mother and her daughter in their own home, Dane County Sherrif Barrett said that calls for accountability in releasing the gang member were “an unsubstantiated and distasteful attempt to gather votes in a battleground state for the upcoming presidential election.” He also denies that he was uncooperative with ICE.
He ended his statement with a joke about not receiving complaints about pets being eaten.
It’s not a joking matter. This sheriff’s lack of action led to a thug committing two assaults on the same woman and kidnapping and raping her and her daughter repeatedly for several days in the sanctuary of their own home.
No, Barrett. This is not about “gathering votes.” This is about a government allowing illegal immigrant gangs to take over a nation, from the most populated cities to the quaint little towns dotting the countryside. Rest assured, Prairie du Chien residents will keep both their families and their pets on lockdown until something changes.