The Dane County Sheriff has responded on social media after two congressmen from Wisconsin questioned whether he failed to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Prarie du Chien and Tom Tiffany of Minocqua in a letter asked whether the Dane County Sheriff’s Office was noncooperative with ICE and whether they ever received a request from federal authorities.
26-year-old Alejando Zarate was arrested September 5 by Prairie du Chien police and accused of sexually assaulting a juvenile girl. Zarate was taken to the Crawford County Jail and planed on detainer so the U.S> Immigration and Customs Enforcement can take custody since he is in the country illegally. Zarate has a warrant out for his arrest in Dane County on similar charges from an incident late last year in Madison. In a Facebook post, Dane Country Sherriff Kalvin Barrett said, “This is an unsubstantiated and distasteful attempt to gather votes in a battleground state for the upcoming presidential election.