By Hannah Saunders

More information has come out about the recent shooting in Portland, where federal agents fired two rounds into a male driver’s arm and one into his wife’s chest. Within the past few days, the victims have been identified, and a leftist social media account sloppily released the woman’s cell phone number when dropping the 911 phone call information. MAGA propagandists, some of whom met with Trump, Pam Bondi, and others at the White House last fall, saw the post and have been harassing and slut-shaming the woman, who is a sex worker, for days.

On January 8 at 3:51 p.m., Andy Ngo, who is an editor for MAGA propaganda outlet The Post Millennial, tweeted a picture of PDX ICE Watch’s now-deleted Instagram post. “Anti-ICE accounts have circulated screenshots alleging that a 911 dispatcher leaked to them information about a call for police assistance,” he wrote. PDX ICE Watch’s caption mentioned how the information they posted was already being circulated in “many places.”

At 4:52 p.m. that day, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated “agents were conducting a targeted vehicle stop in Portland, Oregon,” and that “When agents identified themselves to the vehicle occupants, the driver weaponized his vehicle and attempted to run over the law enforcement agents. Fearing for his life and safety, an agent fired a defensive shot.” Authorities, both federal and local, have yet to locate any video footage of the shooting.

Far-right influencer Chelly Bouferrache began amplifying PDX ICE Watch’s post to her 61.8k Twitter followers at 7:55 p.m. that evening. She wrote that “the far-left antifa account that posted this from their source within public safety included the victims phone with the same number, seeming to confirm the governments accusations of these two being involved in prostitution/sex trafficking.” Several of the pictures Bouferrache posted included the woman’s picture on an escorting website.

And that was the fuel needed to start a fire. 

Propagandist Katie Daviscourt, whom Seattle protesters have nicknamed “KKKatie,” reposted Bouferrache’s tweet and added, “Could this be the innocent “neighbor” Portland City Council is defending?” Daviscourt created a thread and posted several of the female victim’s nudes and personal information, such as her username on the escorting website, her age, location, phone number, and listing ID number, to her 283.1k Twitter followers.

“NSFW: What do we think, folks? Innocent neighbor or TdA [Tren de Aragua] prostitute,” Daviscourt wrote.

Sex workers may engage at their own free will, while others are coerced or forced to based on their financial situation; it’s stigmatized by society, which leads to dehumanization and penalization by authorities. The safety levels of sex workers fluctuates per person, but it is a dangerous field that puts workers at risk for harassment, violence, and murder.

“Sex workers often operate in unsafe locations to avoid surveillance, debt, incarceration, and other forms of punishment—increasing the risk of physical harm, hate crimes or even fatal assault,” the Human Rights Campaign stated. 

Stigma has led society to devalue the lives of sex workers, many of whom are runaways, People of Color, and Queer and Transgender people. The widespread societal lack of care about sex workers was part of the reason Washington’s infamous serial killer, The Green River Killer (Gary Ridgway), was able to murder at least 49 of them. 

By connecting the victim’s cell phone number to her escorting work through PDX ICE Watch’s post, the MAGA propagandists were easily able to post nudes and personal information while writing degrading things about her, while encouraging others to chime in on the disposability and value of her life based on her sex work.

“ARREST & DEPORT ALL PERIOD. NO EXCEPTIONS!!…” Twitter user DC Carrillo responded to one of Daviscourt’s posts.

“She hasn’t been innocent since she was about 6,” another user named Carter Francis wrote.

Portland Police Chief confirms TdA ties

After DHS posted the victim’s names— Luis Nico Moncada and Yorlenys Betabeth Zambro-Contreras— Portland Police Chief Bob Day provided the public with updates on January 9. He encouraged Portlanders to continue to protest, and said that he was grateful that the pair— who are now in federal custody— are in stable medical condition. Chief Day confirmed that the shooting victims are associated with TdA.

“We had a shooting in Northeast Portland in July of this year and the victim in that shooting was self-identified as a Venezuelan immigrant who informed us that the suspects in that shooting were associated with TdA,” Chief Day said. “There’s also been involvement with the two people who were shot yesterday by the federal officers through some criminal cases out in Washington County.” 

He added that this information does not excuse the actions that federal officers took the previous day, and that the department is involved in the investigation with the feds since they responded on the ground.

On January 8, Oregon attorney general Dan Rayfield said the state’s Department of Justice has opened a formal investigation into the shooting to see if federal officers conducted unlawful activity under the guise of lawfulness. 

“We have been clear about our concerns with excessive use of force by federal agents in Portland and nationally. We have also been clear about our intent to investigate circumstances involving federal agents to ensure they are accountable to acting within the scope of their official duties,” Rayfield said. “Today’s incident only heightens the need for transparency and accountability. Our office will take every step necessary to ensure that the rights and security of Oregonians are protected.”

Chief political and advocacy advisor for the American Civil Liberties Union, Deirdre Schifeling, issued a statement where she encouraged people to attend a protest or a know your rights training course, and to tell Congress to halt funding to “out-of-control agencies.”

“The shootings in Minneapolis and Portland weren’t the beginning of ICE’s cruelty, but they must be the end,” she said.

PDX ICE Watch issues public apology

PDX ICE Watch said it was amplifying information to its 26.1k followers that was already circulating in the community, and that it was shared with permission. The group deleted it after the right got a hold of it, and a quick redaction of sensitive information prior to posting could have prohibited the sex shaming and nude sharing.

“We are so disgusted that we helped in any way harm the poor woman who was shot. That information was out however we gave them a head start because of our reach,” the account wrote. 

PDX ICE Watch said its administrators will take a look at its protocols as it was never their intention to cause any harm. 

“When we receive information or photos that depict people’s faces or sensitive identifying information, if the person being depicted or whose sensitive information is being released they should not make the decision to release it. We have taken steps to remove an admin about this. We are taking this situation seriously.

“We need to be able to share information in a way we do not harm the people we are trying to protect. We know that our activity is being watched and noticed by both ICE and fascists.

“We are all learning as we go. We have to have the ability to recognize when a mistake was made regardless of intention and take that as an opportunity to learn and grow so that we can continue to serve our community in a trauma informed matter.

“Phone numbers were made public. Yes the information was available but by posting it we made it available to more hateful people that thrive on harassing the community. With the information circulating we inadvertently gave these people a more direct way to harass and cause greater trauma. This breaks our already broken hearts. We are talking to our admin about what happened and things are changing. We have shifted our posting policies to prevent this from happening in the future.

“We’re reflecting, and some things are adjusting. Our communities are under attack, and how we show up for each other in this moment matters deeply. We did wrong and will do everything in our power to make amends,” it said.

As administrative changes and protocols with PDX ICE Watch shift to prevent such an incident from happening again in the future, far-right propagandists continue to post pictures of the shooting victims and berate the woman for being a sex worker. 

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