– The Washington Times
Federal prosecutors have charged one of the illegal immigrants shot by Border Patrol in Oregon last week with assaulting a federal officer, saying he repeatedly rammed his pickup truck into a government rental car, forcing officers to react.
Authorities said Luis Nino-Moncada, the driver of the pickup, and a woman who was his passenger are associated with Tren de Aragua, the Venezuela-based gang that has been declared a terrorist organization.
Details of the shooting remained unclear. An FBI agent said in court documents that no video has emerged of the encounter, which left both illegal immigrants wounded. The agent said Border Patrol officers said Mr. Nino-Moncada’s ramming of their unoccupied car was so violent that they feared for their own safety and that of others in the area.
A day before the shooting, Renee Good was fatally shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis during anti-ICE protests.
The two incidents have inflamed tensions surrounding President Trump’s immigration policy, and demonstrators gathered in major cities over the weekend to protest ICE. Protests continued to rage Monday in Minneapolis, where Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino said federal immigration officers had sustained “well over 20” assaults in three days. On Monday, agents fired tear gas to break up a crowd of people who showed up to see the aftermath of a car crash just a few blocks from where Ms. Good was fatally shot.
Minnesota, Minneapolis and St. Paul sued the Trump administration Monday to try to stop the immigration enforcement surge that led to the shooting of Ms. Good.
Chief Bovino blamed local politicians, including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, for ginning up their residents.
“They’re actually fomenting the violence,” Chief Bovino said on Fox News.
Attorney General Pam Bondi described the prosecution in Portland as a way to send a signal to anti-ICE protesters.
“Anyone who crosses the red line of assaulting law enforcement will be met with the full force of this Justice Department,” she said.
She said Mr. Nino-Moncada shouldn’t have been free in the first place.
According to an FBI affidavit filed in the new case, Mr. Nino-Moncada had been ordered deported by an immigration judge in 2024.
The woman with Mr. Nino-Moncada, meanwhile, was arrested for sneaking into the U.S. in 2023. She was served a summons to check in with ICE and was released under Biden policies at the time. She never checked in, making her eligible for immigration arrest, the FBI said.
Local authorities investigated both illegal immigrants this summer. The woman was reported to be a prostitute and acknowledged that an associate shot at a client after a dispute over the woman’s services and payment.
The victim, who was shot in the chest, said the perpetrators were tied to Tren de Aragua, and authorities said they were present during a search warrant operation where Mr. Nino-Moncada and the unnamed woman were also found to be, FBI Special Agent Daniel Jeffreys said in the affidavit.
He said there was no body camera footage of the encounter between six Border Patrol agents and the two migrants, nor have investigators found any social media or surveillance footage that captured the encounter.
The woman and Mr. Nino-Moncada were shot by one of the Border Patrol agents. Both managed to flee in their vehicle but were picked up by local police after they reported being shot.
The case was the latest in a string of vehicle rammings that federal officials say has become a dangerous trend. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said aiming a vehicle at officers is akin to deploying a deadly weapon and use of force is justified.
Agent Jeffreys said the FBI interviewed four of the six Border Patrol agents, and at least two of them said they feared for their safety and that of others nearby once the vehicle ramming began. Agent Jeffreys said one agent reported that it seemed Mr. Nino-Moncada had “floored the gas pedal.”
Photos of the rented blue Hyundai sedan that was smashed in the incident show major damage, including pummeled-in doors and the front driver’s side corner as a wreck of twisted metal.
The shooting sparked immediate Democratic condemnation of the Homeland Security Department.
“ICE has done nothing but inject terror, chaos and cruelty into our communities,” said Rep. Maxine Dexter, a Democrat who represents the area in Congress. “ICE must immediately end all active operations in Portland.”
Homeland Security Department officials said blame lay with the illegal immigrants and pro-sanctuary politicians who have made attacks on ICE seem acceptable.
Agent Jeffreys said that when local police responded to the summons by Mr. Nino-Moncada after he was shot, he repeatedly told them, “F- – – ICE.”
The lack of footage of the Portland confrontation stands in contrast with the shooting death of Ms. Good in Minneapolis, where several videos have emerged showing different angles of the incident.
That extensive evidence has done little to produce a consensus, however. Those inclined to support Mr. Trump’s immigration policies see Ms. Good’s driving toward an ICE officer as justification for the shooting, and those who oppose Mr. Trump call her death a “murder.”
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
