The Dane County Jail declined a federal immigration hold for one of two men accused of sexually assaulting a transgender victim on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, according to jail records.
UW-Madison Police arrested Yorfred H. Marcano Gutierrez, 31, and Arturo R. Santos Albujas, 27, both of Fitchburg, early Saturday after a bystander reported a disturbance on Goodspeed Family Pier near Alumni Park.
UWPD received the call at about 4:10 a.m. Aug. 29 and learned a sexual assault had occurred, according to the department’s incident report. Investigators said the suspects and victim, none of whom are affiliated with the university, met at a bar earlier and walked to the pier. The victim was attacked and sexually assaulted while attempting to leave, police said.
Both men were booked into the Dane County Jail on tentative charges of second-degree sexual assault with force, strangulation and suffocation, battery, and false imprisonment.
Jail records show the sheriff’s office declined an ICE hold request for Santos Albujas. There was no indication of an immigration hold request for Marcano Gutierrez.
Dane County is a self-declared sanctuary jurisdiction and commonly denies ICE detainer requests. Sheriff Kalvin Barrett’s office will not honor those requests unless federal authorities produce a court document signed by a judge.
The policy has drawn repeated criticism from federal immigration officials, who say Dane County’s approach lets deportable suspects walk free once local custody ends. Barrett has rejected the politics of the dispute and said ICE has access to jail booking information and can pick people up.
Goodspeed Family Pier is part of Alumni Park, a gift to the campus from the Wisconsin Alumni Association. Local outlets reported the Dane County District Attorney’s Office will review the case. Formal charges had not been filed as of Sunday.
