Tuesday, July 15, 2025
spot_imgspot_img
Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Milwaukee Press Club 'Excellence in Wisconsin Journalism' 2020 & 2021 Award Winners

ICE Says Dane County Is ‘Non-Cooperative’ on Illegal Immigrant Criminals

spot_img

ICE listed Dane County, Wisconsin, as a “non-cooperative” jurisdiction when it comes to holding illegal immigrant criminals in its jail, according to a June 21, 2024, report from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This contradicts a statement the Dane County sheriff posted in a political rant on Facebook.

ICE’s definition of “non-cooperative” institution is, “Non-cooperative: No – Notification prior to release AND No – Adequate hold time to assume DHS custody.” In contrast, ICE defines limited cooperation as, “Limited cooperation: Yes – Notification prior to release AND No – Adequate hold time to assume DHS custody.”

Here’s what ICE says about Dane County in the report (the county is located in the Chicago field office’s jurisdiction):

Dane county
Dane county

Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett posted the lengthy rant on his Facebook campaign page after Wisconsin Right Now ran a story about a letter he received from Wisconsin Congressmen Tom Tiffany and Derrick Van Orden in the wake of the arrest in Prairie du Chien of an accused Venezuelan gang member with a warrant out of Dane County.

“Additionally, statement about being ‘non-cooperative’ is false,” Barrett wrote. “To the authors of this inquiry, please aim your political theatrics in a different direction as you try to recover from the thorough, factual and strategic dismantling of your presidential candidate by VP Kamala Harris on Tuesday. The voters of Wisconsin will not be swayed by such remedial tactics.” He shared the Wisconsin Right Now story that described the congressmen’s letter, which included a list of questions for the Dane County Sheriff.

Tiffany responded to Barrett’s statement on his Facebook comment thread, sharing the ICE report and writing, “The Biden-Harris admin listed you as non-cooperative in June. This means you don’t notify ICE prior to releasing aliens or hold individuals for adequate time for DHS. Why lie?”

The letter was provoked by the Prairie du Chien Police Department revealing that a suspected Venezuelan gang member who is not a U.S. citizen now has an ICE detainer hold after he was accused of sexually assaulting a juvenile female in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.

The suspect, Alejandro Jose Coronel Zarate, 26 of Venezuela, is believed to be a member of “Tren de Aragua,” a violent Venezuelan gang, the Prairie du Chien wrote in the Sept. 6 press release. That’s the same gang that sparked massive outrage and headlines after a video emerged showing gang members at an Aurora, Colorado, apartment building.

As we previously reported, according to online court records, since 2023, Zarate has been wanted on warrants out of Dane County, where he was charged, but never showed up for court, with a slew of violent crimes. Those charges are felony strangulation and suffocation; false imprisonment; battery; and disorderly conduct, court records show.

In a previous email responding to our questions on Colonel-Zarate’ case, the Dane County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Elise Schaffer told us, “We do not have a ‘non-cooperation’ policy regarding communication or coordination with ICE. It is our practice not to hold someone past their scheduled release date for ICE. If there is an ICE hold on someone in our jail, they must be picked up before 11 am on their release date.”

In other words, once inmates reach their release date (on bail or for another reason), Dane County ignores ICE holds and allows the inmates to be released into the community if they aren’t picked up before 11 a.m. on their release date.

Bizarrely, Barrett then added, “And to save any follow up inquiries, we have not taken reports of people eating cats or dogs,” even though no one has raised any concerns about people eating cats or dogs in Dane County.

Barrett is the sheriff who ordered inmates in his jail to be renamed “residents.”

Van Orden’s spokesman told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “Barrett is trying to distract from the fact that he issued warrants … and never executed them.”

“To maintain situational awareness of impacts to ICE’s ability to transfer noncitizens from jails/prisons, DHS needs accurate information to identify non-cooperative or limited cooperating Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) or jurisdictions, to include their policies, that either prevent state or local enforcement agencies from releasing noncitizens into ICE custody or from sharing certain information with ICE officials,” ICE noted.

As of June 2024, out of 4,156 institutions, only 551 were listed as non-cooperative, ICE wrote.

A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report brought the Madison Police Department into it, although that agency doesn’t run the jail. However, the MPD’s policies show that the agency does not cooperate with ICE in all instances in which illegal immigrants are arrested in its jurisdiction, limiting cooperation to those offenders involved in gangs, violent felonies, and terrorism or espionage or were previously deported. That means MPD won’t cooperate with ICE when it arrests illegal immigrants for non-violent felonies or criminal misdemeanors, like drunk driving and a host of other crimes.

As to the specifics of the case, Schaffer wrote, “I looked into Mr. Coronel Zarate’s current situation. He is being held in Crawford County, therefore it would be up to them to communicate with ICE officials. Although he has a criminal complaint warrant in Dane County (based on a Madison Police case), he has not been in our custody and therefore would not have had an ICE hold placed on him in Dane County.”

We asked her how many ICE detainer holds the Dane County Jail/Sheriff has had this year to date, and she told us to file an open records request, which we have done.

Suspected Venezuelan Gangster Attacked Wisconsin Juvenile, Prairie du Chien PD Says

In 2017, before Barrett was sheriff, Madison365 wrote, “New ICE Detainer Orders Go Into Effect Sunday; Dane County Will Continue to Ignore.” We found cases with immigration holds in the Dane County Jail now, however.

Brown Deer Police

Boy Invites Brown Deer Cops to His Lemonade Stand & Gets His Wish

A boy invited Brown Deer police over to his lemonade stand and got his wish! It's the heartwarming story of the day, and Brown Deer...
jerome powell

Fed Chair Candidates & New York’s Mayoral Race

Before we talk about the candidates for the Fed Chair position, let’s discuss for a moment the problem with Chair Powell’s current thinking. Right...

Q&A with Tommy Clark, Author of The 2020 Portland Riots: A Fight Against Domestic Terrorism

By Chris Mann Read part 1: Chris Mann's review of The 2020 Portland Riots: A Fight Against Domestic Terrorism by Tommy Clark. Tommy Clark and...

Protecting Portland: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished [REVIEW]

By Chris Mann An In-Depth Review of The 2020 Portland Riots: A Fight Against Domestic Terrorism by Tommy Clark. This summary is the second in...
Governor’s Veto Powers Wisconsin Republicans Parental Bill of Rights Outlaw Child Sex Dolls Embrace Them Both Unemployment Reforms Wisconsin’s Professional Licensing Bail Reform Amendment wisconsin covid-19

Conservative Wins in the Wisconsin State Budget Bill That Passed July 3

Wisconsin has a divided government, and, with a Democrat in the governor's mansion, conservatives were not going to get everything they wanted. However, there...

Shorewood Officer Shot; Glendale Pursues Suspect, Who Appears Dead

A Shorewood, Wisconsin, police officer was shot but saved by his bulletproof vest in the early morning hours of July 3. Several hours later, Glendale...
kendall corder

MPD Confirms Sad News That Officer Kendall Corder Has Died; Procession Unfolding

The Milwaukee Police Department has officially confirmed the tragic news that Officer Kendall Corder has died in the line of duty. Earlier in the day,...

Oconomowoc Rotary Refuses to Document ‘Threats’ & There’s No Police Reports

Getting criticized is hard, but reasonable criticism - even heated criticism - is not a threat. And it's what representative democracy is all about,...
kendall corder, tremaine jones

Tremaine Jones: Milwaukee DA Declined to Prosecute Him 4 Times Leading Up to Officer Shooting

KEY FINDINGS: Accused cop shooter Tremaine Jones was given a deferred prosecution agreement for a 2021 Milwaukee case involving a stolen Kia and...
Killed by Milwaukee Reckless Drivers Milwaukee Reckless Drivers Kill Box In Milwaukee Police

2 Milwaukee Police Officers Shot Near 25th & Garfield

Two Milwaukee police officers were shot on the evening of June 26, police confirmed. One officer remains in critical condition and the second does...
josh schoemann Washington County’s Early Vote

2026 GOP Candidate Josh Schoemann Challenges Evers’ Budget Approach

(The Center Square) – Josh Schoemann, the only Republican currently in the race for governor next year, is criticizing Gov. Tony Evers’ approach to the next state budget by comparing it to his plans in Washington County.

“In Washington County our budget cycle starts right now, and it’s not due until November. We will propose our budget goals to the County Board in the next couple of months. We will share ‘This is what we’re thinking.’ It gives them months of time to think those through, give us feedback, and [have] that kind of dialogue,” Schoemann explained in an interview on News Talk 1130 WISN.

Schoemann said that is far better than the approach Evers is taking again this year.

“That’s not how government is supposed to work,” Schoemann said. “It’s not the vision of the governor. It’s not the vision of any one person.”

Evers and the Republican legislative leaders who will write the budget have been involved in on-again, off-again budget talks this month. On Thursday, the governor’s office said those talks were off once again because of gridlock in the Senate.

“Ultimately, the Senate needs to decide whether they were elected to govern and get things done or not,” Evers spokesperson Britt Cudaback said in a post on X.

Schoemann’s criticism of Evers is nothing new. He has long been a critic of the governor and has turned that criticism up since launching his campaign for governor.

But the recent criticism was also aimed at other Republicans who may jump into the 20206 governor’s race later this year.

“Nobody else in this race on the Republican side, being rumored to this point, has the executive leadership of skills and history to be able to show ‘This is how I’ve done it before, and here’s how we’ll do it Madison,’” Schoemann said. “The results in Washington County speak for themselves.”

Northwoods Congressman Tom Tiffany is also rumored to be looking to get into the Republican race. Before he went to Congress, Tiffany was a Republican lawmaker in Madison.

Businessman and veteran Bill Berrien is also on the short list of likely GOP candidates for 2026.

richard van buren

Richard Van Buren Arrested in Dodge County Dog’s Death, Sheriff Says

Richard Van Buren, the chairman of the Chester Town Board in Wisconsin, was arrested in the death of a golden retriever dog in rural...

Rep. Donovan, Greenfield Officials Outraged at Release of Accused Random Stabber

State Rep. Bob Donovan and top Greenfield officials are expressing outrage and concern over the release of a man who is accused of randomly...

Dodge County Dog’s Death Under Investigation by Wisconsin Sheriff

Update: Richard Van Buren, the chairman of the Town of Chester Board, has now been arrested. See the story here. The Dodge County Sheriff's Office...
Anthony LoCoco

Anthony LoCoco Running for WI Court of Appeals to Defend the Constitution

Note: Anthony LoCoco, of Waukesha, has worked for the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty and the Institute for Reforming Government. He is...

Milwaukee Alderman Voices Frustration at ‘Crumbling’ Roads, Massive Cost Estimate

The Common Council’s Finance and Personnel Committee heard from City Engineer Kevin Muhs today "about a newly released report from the Department of Public...

Oconomowoc Rotary Club Apologizes, Reverses Course After July 4 Parade Mess

The Oconomowoc Rotary Club has apologized for the mess surrounding its July 4 parade and will now allow political parties and elected representatives to...
Killed by Milwaukee Reckless Drivers Milwaukee Reckless Drivers Kill Box In Milwaukee Police

Milwaukee Police Officer Shot by Armed Suspect in Foot Chase, Department Says

Two ghost guns were recovered. A Milwaukee police officer was shot by an armed suspect who refused to drop his gun during a foot chase...

Milwaukee Police Association Raises Alarm on Low District 7 Staffing

The Milwaukee Police Association is raising the alarm about severely low staffing levels in District 7, one of the city's busiest police districts. The MPA,...
uw-madison Administrators at UW Schools

UW Employs 495 Foreign Nationals at Almost $43 Million a Year, But Won’t Release Their Names

With salaries ranging as high as $320,000 a year, are the foreign nationals getting taxpayer-funded jobs at UW instead of qualified U.S. citizens? The...