PORTLAND, Ore. — A Venezuelan national unlawfully residing in the United States has pleaded guilty to damaging federal government property after allegedly ramming a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle during an attempted immigration arrest in Portland earlier this year.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon announced that Luis Nino-Moncada, 33, pleaded guilty Monday to felony depredation of government property.
According to court documents, the incident occurred on Jan. 8, 2026, in the parking lot of Adventist Health Portland. Prosecutors said Nino-Moncada drove a red Toyota Tacoma into the parking lot with a female passenger. Shortly after parking, a Border Patrol agent positioned a government-issued black Hyundai Sonata behind the pickup while six Border Patrol agents surrounded the vehicle to arrest Nino-Moncada and the passenger for allegedly being in the United States unlawfully.
Court records state that Nino-Moncada believed the agents were with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Prosecutors said he then repeatedly backed his pickup truck into the government vehicle in an attempt to escape, striking the Hyundai multiple times.
Authorities said the repeated collisions created a substantial risk of serious bodily injury to those nearby and that Nino-Moncada acted with conscious or reckless disregard for that risk. During the confrontation, a federal officer discharged a service weapon at Nino-Moncada. No additional details about injuries were released.
The government vehicle was declared a total loss.
Nino-Moncada faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine, and one year of supervised release. Under the terms of his plea agreement, he also agreed to pay $24,413 in restitution for the damaged vehicle.
As part of the plea, Nino-Moncada admitted he is not a U.S. citizen, is unlawfully present in the United States, and is subject to a removal order issued by an immigration judge in November 2024.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 16, 2026, in U.S. District Court.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon is prosecuting the case.
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