{"id":445939,"date":"2026-02-03T05:03:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T05:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/445939\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T05:03:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T05:03:11","slug":"dhss-account-of-two-venezuelans-shot-by-border-patrol-falls-apart-in-court-a-smear-campaign-us-immigration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/445939\/","title":{"rendered":"DHS\u2019s account of two Venezuelans shot by border patrol falls apart in court: \u2018A smear campaign\u2019 | US immigration"},"content":{"rendered":"

Immediately after a US border patrol agent shot two people<\/a> in Oregon last month, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the targets were \u201cvicious\u201d gang members connected to a prior shooting and alleged they had \u201cattempted to run over\u201d officers with their vehicle.<\/p>\n

In the weeks since, key parts of the federal government\u2019s narrative have fallen apart.<\/p>\n

The events took place on the afternoon of 8 January, one day after a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer fatally shot Renee Nicole Good<\/a> in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

According to a DHS press release<\/a> and social media posts<\/a> issued the following day, border patrol agents were conducting a \u201ctargeted\u201d stop of a vehicle in Portland occupied by two members of Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang. Yorlenys Zambrano-Contreras, a woman in the passenger seat, had been \u201cinvolved\u201d in a Portland shooting last year, the agency wrote.<\/p>\n

During the border patrol stop, the driver, Luis Ni\u00f1o-Moncada, \u201cweaponized their vehicle against\u201d officers, DHS said, prompting an agent \u201cto defend himself and others\u201d by shooting the occupants. Zambrano-Contreras was hit in the chest, Ni\u00f1o-Moncada was hit in the arm and both were hospitalized, then taken into federal custody, DHS noted. The agents were uninjured.<\/p>\n

But court records obtained by the Guardian reveal a Department of Justice prosecutor later directly contradicted DHS\u2019 Tren de Aragua statements in court, telling a judge, \u201cWe\u2019re not suggesting \u2026 [Ni\u00f1o-Moncada] is a gang member.\u201d An FBI affidavit issued following the incident also suggests that in the previous shooting cited by DHS, Zambrano-Contreras was not a suspect, but rather a reported victim of a sexual assault and robbery. Neither Ni\u00f1o-Moncada or Zambrano-Contreras have prior criminal convictions, their lawyers have said.<\/p>\n

Yorlenys Zambrano-Contreras with her son. Photograph: Courtesy Yorlenys Zambrano-Contreras<\/p>\n

Immigration and criminal justice experts who reviewed the case records characterized the federal government\u2019s communications as a \u201csmear campaign\u201d against the two Venezuelan immigrants, with mischaracterizations of their pasts and unsubstantiated allegations of criminality.<\/p>\n

Ni\u00f1o-Moncada, the 33-year-old driver, who is undocumented, remains detained, facing charges of aggravated assault of an officer based on claims he tried to \u201cintentionally\u201d hit agents with his car. Zambrano-Contreras, 32, was not criminally charged, but has pleaded guilty<\/a> to improper entry to the US, a misdemeanor. Prosecutors have said the two were dating.<\/p>\n

Questions about the Oregon shooting come as the Trump administration faces scrutiny over its false statements, disproven by video<\/a> evidence, about the killings of Good<\/a> and Alex Pretti<\/a> in Minneapolis and as cases<\/a> of alleged \u201cassaults<\/a>\u201d on immigration agents<\/a> have repeatedly fallen apart<\/a> in court<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe federal government cannot be trusted. Our default position should be skepticism and understanding they lie very regularly,\u201d said Sameer Kanal, a Portland<\/a> city councilor. \u201cThere\u2019s a playbook of demonizing people \u2026 and claiming vehicles were used as \u2018weapons.\u2019 We see a pattern of victim-blaming, and it\u2019s important we push back, because it\u2019s propaganda.\u201d<\/p>\n

No body-camera footage<\/p>\n

None of the six border patrol agents involved in the Portland shooting recorded body-camera footage. The shooting occurred in a hospital parking lot, but the FBI said in a 10 January affidavit supporting charges that surveillance cameras didn\u2019t capture the incident: \u201cInvestigators continue to look for any available video evidence \u2026 but to date have been unsuccessful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without videos, the charging documents largely relied on agents\u2019 testimony. A complaint said Zambrano-Contreras was the \u201ctarget of interest\u201d for the operation and when officers approached in unmarked vehicles, they ordered her and Ni\u00f1o-Moncada to exit their car. Ni\u00f1o-Moncada, prosecutors alleged, reversed their vehicle, collided with an unoccupied border patrol car, then did a \u201cforward\/reverse maneuver multiple times\u201d.<\/p>\n

The filing summarized testimony from four agents \u2013 two who said they were fearful for their safety, one who said he was not. The charges did not cite testimony from the officer who appeared to have fired two shots into the driver\u2019s side window. He has not been named.<\/p>\n

The FBI\u2019s affidavit alleged that Ni\u00f1o-Moncada later \u201cadmitted to intentionally ramming the Border Patrol vehicle in an attempt to flee\u201d.<\/p>\n

Last week, prosecutors disclosed in court that investigators have since obtained surveillance footage partially showing the incident. The video was not made public in court filings, but KGW, a local station, obtained and published<\/a> it on Monday.<\/p>\n

The grainy footage, taken from a distance and with no sound, does not clearly capture the encounter. It shows agents following what appears to be Ni\u00f1o-Moncada\u2019s truck in the parking lot and then approaching him. He appears to maneuver the car and drive off, though the moment of the shooting is not clearly visible.<\/p>\n

Sergio Perez, a civil rights lawyer<\/a> and former US prosecutor, said it was alarming the government filed charges two days after the incident while acknowledging it was still seeking video: \u201cThis government needs to go back to the practice of slow and thorough investigations rather than what we consistently see in immigration enforcement activities \u2013 which is a rush to smear individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two protesters are lit by a police light as they walk outside an ICE facility in Portland in January 2026. Photograph: Jenny Kane\/AP<\/p>\n

Ni\u00f1o-Moncada\u2019s public defenders have rejected claims he intended to hit officers, noting the complaint failed to identify any specific agent who believed they were going to be hit. Ni\u00f1o-Moncada was likely in a \u201cfrightened\u201d state, the attorneys argued in court filings, given the \u201cclimate of abject terror\u201d for immigrants: \u201cAnyone who looks like Mr Ni\u00f1o-Moncada would wonder: if shooting someone who looks like Ms Good is acceptable, what can they do to someone who looks like me?\u201d the lawyers wrote.<\/p>\n

The US attorney\u2019s office and FBI declined to respond to detailed inquiries about the case. DHS did not respond to requests for comment. Attorneys for Ni\u00f1o-Moncada and Zambrano-Contreras also declined to comment.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s narrative has also heavily relied on gang claims, but those allegations have not stood up to scrutiny.<\/p>\n

\u2018She is a victim\u2019<\/p>\n

DHS has repeatedly argued Zambrano-Contreras had gang ties, claiming in its first statement the day of the shooting that she was \u201caffiliated with [a] transnational Tren de Aragua prostitution ring and involved in a recent shooting in Portland\u201d.<\/p>\n

Those claims stem from an incident on 7 July 2025, the FBI wrote in its recent affidavit in Ni\u00f1o-Moncada\u2019s case.<\/p>\n

Zambrano-Contreras had been working as a sex worker that day and later told police a man had \u201cforced her to provide oral sex, initially did not let her leave, and she was forced to leave without her belongings and all of her money\u201d, the FBI wrote.<\/p>\n

Once Zambrano-Contreras was able to flee, she texted Ni\u00f1o-Moncada to pick her up, and Ni\u00f1o-Moncada later told police he found her \u201ccrying and [with] marks on her neck\u201d, according to the affidavit. Later that day, Zambrano-Contreras returned with several men to the apartment where she had been assaulted to get her money and belongings, the FBI said. Police responded to calls of shots fired at the scene and encountered two men who said they had \u201cengaged the services of a prostitute\u201d, and due to a \u201cdispute\u201d, the woman came back with other men who started to break into the apartment \u2013 one of whom fired a shot that didn\u2019t hit anyone.<\/p>\n

Four days later, on 11 July, there was another shooting, which the FBI says was \u201cconnected\u201d to the 7 July shooting. In the second shooting, a Venezuelan national was shot in the abdomen. According to the FBI, he told authorities the shooting stemmed from an altercation with members of Tren de Aragua over a car sale.<\/p>\n

One of those men was a \u201cfriend\u201d of Zambrano-Contreras, the FBI said, and was among the group that had returned with her to the apartment to fetch her belongings.<\/p>\n

Ni\u00f1o-Moncada was not present at either shooting. Zambrano-Contreras has not been described as a suspect in the first shooting, and she was not present at the second shooting. Neither have faced charges related to either shooting.<\/p>\n

The Department of Homeland Security emblem on the ICE building in Washington DC. Photograph: Heather Diehl\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Legal experts said it seemed the government\u2019s claim that the couple was affiliated with Tren de Aragua was largely based on vague and unproven assertions there were gang members in their social circle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s having them seem guilty without any evidence,\u201d said Elliott Young, a history professor at Lewis and Clark College in Portland and Latin America expert who regularly testifies in asylum cases. \u201cIf they did have evidence that either of them were active in this group they\u2019ve described as a dangerous \u2018narco-terrorist\u2019 organization, why are they not being charged with that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Young, who reviewed the court records, said it was particularly galling for the government to use an incident in which Zambrano-Contreras was victimized to paint her as a criminal: \u201cIt appears this woman is the victim of a rape, theft and being kidnapped, yet she is being turned into the target of a smear campaign claiming she\u2019s an associate of the gang. It seems twisted and unjust.\u201d<\/p>\n

The July cases were originally investigated by Portland police and the local Washington county sheriff. A Portland police bureau spokesperson pointed to the chief\u2019s prior remarks<\/a> saying there appeared to be \u201csome nexus\u201d between Ni\u00f1o-Moncada and Zambrano-Contreras and Tren de Aragua, but that he could not address specifics while investigations were continuing. A sheriff\u2019s spokesperson declined to answer questions, saying Zambrano-Contreras was considered a \u201cperson of interest\u201d in the 7 July shooting, but that federal law enforcement was handling the investigation.<\/p>\n

\u2018Dirtying up of the defendant\u2019<\/p>\n

In a 21 January hearing about whether Ni\u00f1o-Moncada should remain detained, prosecutors acknowledged the lack of evidence linking him to Tren de Aragua.<\/p>\n

A federal judge, Jeff Armistead, pressed the US attorney, Thomas Edmonds, on Ni\u00f1o-Moncada\u2019s link to the 7 July shooting, noting it appeared the defendant had merely rescued his girlfriend from a dangerous situation and was not involved in what happened after.<\/p>\n

Edmonds said the other men she called that day were \u201crelated\u201d to Tren de Aragua, then conceded: \u201cWe\u2019re not suggesting, and we didn\u2019t make an argument to the court that [Ni\u00f1o-Moncada] is a gang member or that he fired shots. But we\u2019re saying that there are associations with him in this circle of individuals \u2026 We\u2019re not making a submission that you ought to detain on the basis of him being a gang member. I want to be clear about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carley Palmer, a former federal prosecutor who reviewed the hearing transcript, said: \u201cProsecutors have a duty of candor to the court. It sounds like the prosecutor wanted to honor that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gang prosecutions generally include clear documentation of affiliation, such as tattoos, social media posts or past statements to law enforcement, said Palmer, a partner at the Halpern May Ybarra Gelberg firm. None of that was presented in this case: \u201cWhat\u2019s interesting about the filings is that you don\u2019t see evidence of gang association.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prosecutors, she argued, had not only failed to prove Ni\u00f1o-Moncada\u2019s association with the gang, but also failed to present any argument suggesting his purported Tren de Aragua affiliation is connected to the actual alleged crime of assaulting an officer: \u201cIt just feels like a dirtying up of the defendant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anti-ICE activists protest near Legacy Emanuel hospital on 10 January 2026 in Portland, Oregon. Photograph: Mathieu Lewis-Rolland\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Edmonds, the prosecutor, argued in court that Ni\u00f1o-Moncada posed a threat because he had eight previous traffic violations and a previous misdemeanor arrest for driving under the influence.<\/p>\n

Ni\u00f1o-Moncada\u2019s lawyers countered he was released each time with tickets and had no criminal convictions in the US nor a record in Venezuela. The attorneys said he came to the US in 2022 to flee political persecution and had been attacked by Venezuelan police. His cousin, in a court filing, said Ni\u00f1o-Moncada was part of student protests in approximately 2014 where police used brutal force. The cousin also expressed disbelief at the Tren de Aragua claims, noting the gang was not based in the region where they grew up.<\/p>\n

Scholars on Latin American gangs have repeatedly disputed<\/a> the Trump administration\u2019s claims that Tren de Aragua poses a national security threat, saying the group is decentralized<\/a> and there is no evidence it had any formal hierarchy or structure in the US. The administration has cited alleged Tren de Aragua threats to justify lethal boat strikes<\/a> and the swift deportations of Venezuelans to a notorious El Salvador prison, without due process<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Young, the Portland-based expert on the group, said he wasn\u2019t aware of any criminal court cases involving Tren de Aragua in Oregon<\/a>, noting the state is home to only roughly 2,000 Venezuelans, with about 350 people in Portland.<\/p>\n

Fernando Pe\u00f1a, a Portland-based advocate who has worked closely with Latino immigrant communities in the region, said he had seen an influx of Venezuelans in recent years, but that he had never even heard the name Tren de Aragua until the White House started talking about it last year.<\/p>\n

\u2018Credibility is everything\u2019<\/p>\n

The US attorney\u2019s office will face significant hurdles in prosecuting Ni\u00f1o-Moncada if the case goes to trial, said Palmer. The government has to prove he had \u201cintent\u201d to assault the agents with his vehicle, which will be challenging without body-camera evidence and considering DHS\u2019 admission no agents were injured.<\/p>\n

The claims of his gang connections and loose ties to a previous shooting could further be considered \u201cunduly prejudicial\u201d and excluded from the trial, she said.<\/p>\n

The case is likely to be a \u201che said, he said\u201d matter, Palmer said. \u201cCredibility is everything in this kind of trial. The credibility of the individual officers who testify will be on trial and so will the credibility of the agency.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Immediately after a US border patrol agent shot two people in Oregon last month, the Department of Homeland…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-445939","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-united-states-of-america","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}