The woman shot in the chest by a Border Patrol agent in Portland last week appeared in federal court by video Friday from the immigration detention center in Tacoma on a complaint alleging she illegally entered the United States in 2023.
Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras, 32, had been moved last Saturday to the Northwest Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center from Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland, where she underwent surgery.
A video monitor in the downtown Portland courtroom showed her sitting alone in a nondescript room dressed in pink scrubs, staring straight ahead, her arms crossed in front of her chest. She listened to a Spanish-speaking interpreter who connected with her on his cellphone.
Her lawyer Conor Huseby had asked for Zambrano-Contreras to appear by video “due to her medical condition and the difficulty of transportation.”
He asked that she continued to be held at the immigration detention center for now. No immediate date was set for her next court appearance either in Portland or in Texas.
Prosecutors in Texas filed the illegal entry allegation against Zambrano-Contreras after the shooting. Friday’s hearing was an initial court appearance to inform Zambrano-Contreras of the allegation filed against her.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie F. Beckerman read the woman her rights. Other than greeting the judge and acknowledging she understood her rights, Zambrono-Contreras did not otherwise speak during the hearing.
Zambrano-Contreras was a passenger in a Toyota Tacoma truck that six Border Patrol agents in four unmarked cars had followed into the parking lot of an Adventist Health medical office building in Southeast Portland about 2 p.m. on Jan. 8.
One of the agents shot into the truck and wounded Zambrano-Contreras and the driver, Luis David Nino-Moncada, 33. U.S. Homeland Security officials said the agent fired in self-defense when Nino-Moncada put his truck into reverse and struck an unoccupied federal rental car several times before driving off.
The wounded pickup driver drove about three miles to The Bria Apartments off Northeast 146th Avenue and called 911 at 2:24 p.m. to report that he and his passenger had been shot. He and Zambrano-Contreras were taken to separate hospitals.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Edmonds said the maximum penalty for illegal entry into the U.S. , a misdemeanor, is six months in prison and a $5,000 fine.
At the close of her hearing, Zambrano-Contreras held the left side of her chest as she stood up from a chair, waiting to be let out of the room at the detention center.
Homeland Security officials have said Zambrano-Contreras was the target of the Border Patrol stop, alleging she was involved in a prostitution ring associated with the violent Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang and involved in a prior Portland police shooting. She has not faced any new charges stemming from any prostitution ring or shooting.
Nino-Moncada remains in custody, accused of assaulting a federal officer with his truck and damaging government property.
