GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden says his Wisconsin hometown is ‘terrified’ after Venezuelan gang member’s violent-crime scourge

WATERTOWN, Wis. — A suspected member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua was arrested for allegedly brutalizing a woman and her daughter in a tiny Wisconsin town — and hometown GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden said it was only “a matter of time” before tragedy struck thanks to the Biden-Harris administration’s open-border policies.

Alejandro Jose Coronel Zarate, 26, cuffed late last week, is accused of sexually and physically assaulting a woman “under particularly brutal circumstances,” holding the woman and daughter against their will and “over the course of a period of time sexually and physically assaulting them both,” Prairie du Chien Police Chief Kyle Teynor said in Monday press conference.

The latest incident also resulted in the injury of the victim’s minor child, police said.

After initially saying Zarate was “suspected” of having an affiliation with Tren de Aragua, the violent gang that’s been wreaking havoc across the nation, police said Monday they are “more confident now” about Zarate’s ties to the transnational gang based on their investigations.

Van Orden — who flipped the 3rd Congressional District with his 2022 win — said his hometown of 5,500 people has been rocked by the news, but he registered little surprise.

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“It’s shocking, but it’s not surprising,” the former Navy SEAL told The Post Monday. “All of my neighbors, the people in my hometown immediately called us.”

Van Orden said that Coronel Zarate’s arrest was a major issue at a campaign event he held an hour north in La Crosse over the weekend — since communities have been left “terrified” by these crimes.

“To me it’s shocking and it’s nearly unforgivable what this administration is doing,” he told The Post.

“They’ve opened up our border and we have millions of illegal aliens able to enter the country. Obviously, many of them are readily identifiable as criminal illegal aliens. And they’re kidnapping, raping and murdering our children. They’re terrorizing our communities around the country. And the Biden administration is blowing it off.”

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“A criminal with a readily identifiable gang tattoo allowed into the country under Border Czar Harris,” the congressman added incredulously.

Tren de Aragua has been seeping into sanctuary-city suburbs and destroying quiet communities — just this week. The Post reported that the brutal migrant gang took over an apartment complex in Aurora, Co., forcing the landlord to sell the now-trashed tenement.

Now charged with a host of gruesome crimes including sexual assault, battery, strangulation, suffocation, false imprisonment, child abuse and disorderly conduct, Coronel Zarate’s has been behind bars before.

He had been detained Nov. 5 in Minneapolis for receiving stolen property. A warrant for the 26-year-old’s arrest on charges of strangulation/suffocation, false imprisonment, battery and disorderly conduct was issued on Dec. 1 in Dane County, Wis.

There is no record of any arrest, and Coronel Zarate was on the streets in time to travel from Madison to the Mississippi River valley town where these heinous acts took place.

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Prairie du Chien police confirmed Zarate entered the United States in September 2023 “at or near the El Paso, TX point of entry.”

Van Orden took aim at the Biden administration for mishandling the border, which he says allowed a gang member into the community in a press conference with Chief Teynor and Sheriff Dale McCullick of Crawford County, where the migrant is behind bars.

“And I don’t care what your political affiliation is. This is not a Democrat issue. It’s not an independent or Libertarian issue. This is a human-rights issue,” he said.

“American citizens’ human rights are being violated. They’re being kidnapped, raped and murdered by criminal illegal aliens, and it’s just got to stop.”

Van Orden is defending his seat against Democratic challenger Rebecca Cooke on Wisconsin’s western border this November. Cook Political Report rates the R+4 seat a “Lean Republican” race.

A Marquette Law School poll conducted in June found immigration is the second-top issue for voters in choosing candidates this November, after the economy and before abortion.

There have been about 11 million known illegal entries into the United States, defined as the number of Customs and Border Protection encounters, since President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took office.

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