The Justice Department has charged a Venezuelan illegal immigrant and suspected Tren de Aragua gang member who was shot by a Border Patrol agent last week in Portland, Oregon.
A criminal complaint obtained by the Washington Examiner revealed that Luis Nino-Moncada, 33, was charged in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon on Monday morning with aggravated assault of a federal officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon and depredation of federal property in excess of $1,000 for allegedly ramming a pickup truck into an undercover vehicle used by Border Patrol agents multiple times on Thursday.
According to an affidavit signed by FBI agent Daniel Jeffreys, Nino-Moncada, who illegally entered the country during the Biden administration, confessed to repeatedly backing the truck up into the sedan used by Border Patrol and stated “f*** ICE” as first responders attempted to address his injuries.
Nino-Moncada “admitted to intentionally ramming the Border Patrol vehicle in an attempt to flee, and he stated that he knew they were immigration enforcement vehicles,” according to the criminal complaint.
The shooting occurred on Thursday as Border Patrol agents deployed to Portland had been on the street looking for an illegal immigrant from Venezuela named Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras.
Zambrano-Contreras had illegally entered the United States near El Paso, Texas, with an alleged family member on Sept. 17, 2023. She was given a notice to appear in immigration court once she resettled in Portland but failed to follow up. She was known to police as a prostitute associated with Tren de Aragua.
Zambrano-Contreras and Nino-Moncada were also involved in a July 2025 shooting that occurred after a “bad prostitution deal” in Washington County, Oregon, according to the affidavit. The complaint alleges that the woman engaged in prostitution with two men, but the deal went badly. Zambrano-Contreras left the apartment and returned later with multiple men who attempted to break into the apartment. The two men attempted to escape, and one was shot as he fled.
In August, local police served a search warrant at an extended-stay hotel in Portland and detained Zambrano-Contreras, as well as Nino-Moncada and two other men on site. In a police interview, she admitted to having gone to the apartment in July as a prostitute but claimed that one of the two men had forced her to provide oral sex, initially did not let her leave the apartment, and stole her belongings and money.
The woman told police that after she left, she texted Nino-Moncada to get a ride back to the hotel. She then notified other men who returned with her to the apartment to recover her belongings and money, but said she never heard the gun fired or found her personal items.
Fast forward to Thursday, when Border Patrol agents in Portland located a red Toyota Tacoma associated with Zambrano-Contreras. Nino-Moncada was in the driver’s seat, and the woman they believed to be Zambrano-Contreras was in the passenger seat.
Border Patrol agents in four unmarked cars attempted to conduct a traffic stop of the pickup truck around 2 p.m. in the parking lot at Adventist Health Primary Care. Four agents got out and approached the truck, while two additional agents stood by. None of the agents was wearing a body camera during the incident.
Four Border Patrol agents on scene described to the FBI that they had come around the vehicle on foot and identified themselves to the driver and passenger, including in Spanish.
“One Border Patrol agent described the driver … as appearing anxious and visibly moving around in the driver seat,” the affidavit reads. “Border Patrol agents gave commands for the occupants to exit the target vehicle, at which point, [Nino-Moncada] placed the target vehicle in reverse, and reversed, colliding with an unoccupied Border Patrol vehicle with enough speed and force to cause significant damage. Nino-Moncada then put the target vehicle in drive moving forward and continued the forward/reverse maneuver multiple times, striking the Border Patrol vehicle multiple times.”
“Another Border Patrol agent then fired their service weapon at the driver of the target vehicle,” the affidavit continues. “The target vehicle then fled the scene. It was unknown at the time if the shots struck either Nino-Moncada or [Zambrano-Contreras].”
The two fled the scene but were not chased by Border Patrol. Agents later located the truck parked at Bria Apartments on 146th Avenue in Portland.
Emergency responders received a 911 call from Nino-Moncada after he fled and had requested medical help for gunshot wounds for himself and Zambrano-Contreras.
“Responding law enforcement placed a tourniquet on [Nino-Moncada],” the affidavit reads. “While placing the tourniquet, [Nino-Moncada] repeatably stated “f*** ICE.”
The truck in the attack belonged to a third party that Zambrano-Contreras had used to purchase the vehicle and was paying off monthly.
Attacks against federal law enforcement are up 3,200%, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which did not provide a previous period of time to compare the current statistics with.
Tren de Aragua is a large criminal group that took advantage of the ongoing border crisis to push members into the U.S. and beef up its presence in cities nationwide.
FIRST LOOK AT WALL OF BUOYS INSTALLED AT TEXAS-MEXICO BORDER
The gang has been around just over a decade and in that time has gone from operating inside prison walls in Venezuela to spreading into South America and, now, penetrating U.S. communities.
Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), whose district runs along nearly half of the southern border, said he has warned about the gang and is seriously concerned about the hold it already has in the U.S.