Suspected Tren de Aragua member charged for attacking Border Patrol agents in Oregon
The U.S. Department of Justice has charged an alleged gang member, who was shot by Border Patrol agents last week, with launching a violent attack on federal officers in Oregon.
Authorities have charged Luis Nino-Moncada, identified as a member of the Venezuela-based transnational organized crime syndicate Tren de Aragua, with aggravated assault of a federal officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon and also depredation of federal property exceeding $1,000.
The DOJ said in a statement Monday that Nino-Moncada repeatedly struck a law enforcement vehicle with his own vehicle during a traffic stop, threatening the lives of multiple Border Patrol agents and causing considerable damage to government property.
The attack came after Border Patrol agents initiated an immigration enforcement operation targeting a Tren de Aragua prostitution ring. After being apprehended, Nino-Moncada reportedly confessed to purposely ramming the vehicle with the full knowledge that there were Border Patrol agents within it.
“Anyone who crosses the red line of assaulting law enforcement will be met with the full force of this Justice Department,” said U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement.
“This man — an illegal alien with ties to a foreign terrorist organization — should NEVER have been in our country to begin with, and we will ensure he NEVER walks free in America again.”
Nico-Moncada and his passenger, Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras, garnered national headlines last week when news surfaced that authorities had shot two people in Portland after he had attacked Border Patrol agents. That news came amid the social turmoil from the shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minnesota last week.
DHS issued a statement stating that Nico-Moncada and Zambrano-Contreras were in the U.S. illegally and are suspected members of Tren de Aragua. The DHS statement didn't specify if Zambrano-Contreras is facing charges.
Prosecutors say that when Nino-Moncada refused to exit the vehicle, he placed the car in reverse and rammed into the unoccupied Border Patrol car. He continued to drive forward and reverse, ramming the vehicle multiple times. Nino-Moncada and Zambrano-Contreras fled the scene.
The DHS states that Nico-Moncada “illegally entered the U.S. in 2022 and was RELEASED into the country by the Biden administration" and was later “arrested for DUI and unauthorized use of a vehicle,” with “a final order of removal.”
Zambrano-Contreras “illegally entered the U.S. in 2023 near El Paso, Texas, and was RELEASED into this country by the Biden administration,” the DHS said, adding that she “played an active role in a Tren de Aragua prostitution ring and was involved with a prior shooting in Portland.”
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson, a Democrat, issued a statement last week in which he condemned the shooting of the two individuals, calling it “another deeply troubling incident.”
“Portland is not a ‘training ground’ for militarized agents, and the ‘full force’ threatened by the administration has deadly consequences,” stated Wilson last week.
“Federal militarization undermines effective, community‑based public safety, and it runs counter to the values that define our region. I will use every legal and legislative tool available to protect our residents' civil and human rights.”
