TdA Member Charged With Assault for Attacking Border Patrol in Portland
Federal authorities have charged Tren de Aragua terror-gang goon Luis Nino-Moncada, a Venezuelan illegal alien, with assault on a federal officer for ramming a Border Patrol vehicle in Portland.
Charged with entering the country illegally is his illegal-alien prostitute TdA gal pal, Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras.
Nino-Moncada and Zambrano-Contreras became yet another cause célèbre of the Left after the crime because a Border Patrol agent shot them, which invited leftists to riot outside the city’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building.
The Crime
The happy couple’s criminal career ended when Border Patrol agents “initiated a targeted immigration enforcement operation on a vehicle believed to belong to a female involved in a TdA prostitution ring,” DOJ reported, that “female” being Zambrano-Contreras.
She “was sitting in the passenger-side seat of the vehicle at the time of the enforcement operation,” DOJ continued, and was involved, DOJ alleges:
[She] had previously been arrested by Border Patrol in El Paso, Texas and later failed to report to immigration authorities. According to law enforcement reports, [she] is believed to have been involved in a shooting stemming from a bad prostitution deal.
After commanding Nino-Moncada to exit the vehicle, Nino-Moncada is alleged to have placed his vehicle in reverse, colliding with an unoccupied Border Patrol vehicle with enough speed and force to cause significant damage. Nino-Moncada continued the forward and reverse maneuver multiple times, striking the Border Patrol vehicle multiple times. A Border Patrol agent interviewed by FBI special agents described being fearful that Nino-Moncada could strike them and other Border Patrol agents with the target vehicle. After the attack, Nino-Moncada and the female passenger fled the scene in the target vehicle.
Damage to the border patrol vehicle was significant. Serious damage was sustained to the front bumper, resulting in the bumper being torn from the vehicle, both headlights being destroyed, the front driver-side quarter panel being dented, including the fender liner being detached, and the driver side rear-passenger door and quarter panel being dented.
The Department of Homeland Security offered more details about the two when they were arrested.
NIno-Moncada jumped the border in 2022, and of course, the Biden administration released him. “Since then, he was arrested for DUI and unauthorized use of a vehicle. He has a final order of removal,” DHS reported.
“Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras is a criminal illegal alien from Venezuela and is associated with Tren de Aragua,” DHS continued:
She illegally entered the U.S. in 2023 near El Paso, Texas, and was RELEASED into this country by the Biden administration. Since illegally entering, Contreras played an active role in a Tren de Aragua prostitution ring and was involved with a prior shooting in Portland.
Nino-Moncada is charged with “aggravated assault of a federal officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon and depredation of federal property in excess of $1,000.” Zambrano-Contreras is charged with illegal entry, Fox News’s Bill Melugin.
The criminal complaint includes photos of the red Toyota truck with which Nino-Moncada rammed the Border Patrol vehicle. Agents shot the two to defend themselves.
Portland Police Chief Cries
As journalist Andy Ngo reported, “instead of waiting for facts, Portland and Oregon leaders — all Democrats — rushed to stage an emergency press conference condemning federal agents, rejecting DHS’ statements, and publicly siding with the violent suspects, whom they repeatedly described as ‘victims.’”
The far-left media “followed suit, misleading the public and inflaming tensions. The Portland Police chief refused to share the truth about the suspects’ Tren de Aragua ties,” Ngo reported:
At night on Jan. 8, an angry far-left mob descended on the Portland ICE facility, attempting to attack it and forcing police to make six arrests — all sparked by misinformation pushed by elected officials, activists and media.
Only later did the Portland police chief, Bob Day, come clean. And he cried when he did.
“There is an association with the two folks from yesterday and TdA,” Day confessed at a news conference.
“I hesitated to even share this information initially because I’m very aware of the historic injustice of victim blaming oftentimes portrayed by law enforcement, including by this agency,” he continued.
After that, Day broke down in tears while addressing the “Latino community.”
Portland cops “were aware the day prior that DHS was correct in their statement, but refused to confirm it at the initial press conference, which preceded leftist rioting outside the Portland ICE facility,” Ngo observed:
[Police] had the names of the couple from their investigation into a … Portland shooting, where the victim said the assailants are members of Tren de Aragua.
That shooting, on July 7, involved what DOJ called the “bad prostitution deal.”
“The victims, who were not injured, claimed that after engaging in prostitution services from Zambrano-Contreras, they got into a dispute,” Ngo reported:
They claimed that she returned later with multiple men who broke into the apartment and shot at the victims who ran out the back.
Casings recovered from that shooting link it to another shooting that occurred four days later in Portland.
The Biden administration permitted TdA to establish terror-gang bases nationwide, multiple federal indictments show. In one case, the administration financially subsidized the gang’s takeover of an apartment complex.
