Credit: U.S. Department of Homeland Security
PORTLAND, OR – The woman shot in the chest by a Border Patrol officer during a traffic stop in Portland earlier this month pleaded guilty Thursday to illegally entering the United States and was sentenced to a year of probation.
Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras, 32, appeared by video from an immigration detention center in Tacoma, Washington, for a hearing in federal court in Portland. Under a negotiated agreement, she will remain out of custody in Oregon while on probation.
Zambrano-Contreras pleaded guilty to improper entry by an alien, a misdemeanor. The case was initially filed in Texas, but she waived her right to appear there for prosecution.
Her defense attorney, Conor Huseby, said Zambrano-Contreras crossed the border in 2023 while seeking a better life for herself and her child amid long delays at ports of entry. Speaking through a Spanish-language interpreter, Zambrano-Contreras told the judge she had no place to live or work and crossed with a large group of people without inspection.
Prosecutors said Zambrano-Contreras entered the U.S. from Mexico in September 2023 near the Paso Del Norte port of entry in Texas. She was detained by Border Patrol, then released due to lack of space and ordered to report to immigration authorities in Portland, which she did not do. Her immigration court hearing is scheduled for June 1, 2028.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie F. Beckerman ordered Zambrano-Contreras to undergo location monitoring during probation and comply with an initial nightly curfew. She was also barred from areas where prostitution occurs and warned she could be arrested if she violates probation conditions.
Zambrano-Contreras was wounded Jan. 8 while sitting in the front passenger seat of a red Toyota Tacoma that was stopped by Border Patrol officers in a Southeast Portland medical office parking lot. Authorities say the driver, Luis David Niño-Moncada, rammed a federal vehicle and struck an officer with the truck. An officer then fired two shots into the vehicle, wounding both the driver and Zambrano-Contreras.
Niño-Moncada, 33, later drove to an apartment complex and called 911. He has pleaded not guilty to aggravated assault of a federal officer and damaging federal property and remains in custody.
Federal officials have alleged Zambrano-Contreras was the target of the stop and linked to a prostitution ring tied to the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, but she has not been charged in connection with any prostitution activity or prior shooting. She is expected to be a witness in the case against Niño-Moncada.
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Tim Lantz
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