Alejandro Barranco, a previous U.S. Marine, expressed feelings of grave disappointment towards his country when a video capturing a federal immigration agent forcefully restraining and striking his father went viral on various social media platforms. This incident, which took place in Santa Ana on a Saturday, resulted in mass protests with a crowd demanding the expulsion of the immigration agents. It also spurred an online funding campaign for the aforementioned victim’s impending legal expenses.
Criticized in the ordeal is Narciso Barranco, a 48-year-old landscaping entrepreneur. He was detained incidentally during his normal business operations. Narciso has the privilege of being the father to three U.S. Marines, including Alejandro, who is 25, and two others serving actively and residing at Camp Pendleton.
In a discussion arranged for Sunday, Alejandro voiced his deep-seated dismay and feeling of betrayal. He adamantly noted that his father was devoid of any criminal history and was simply earning a living through honest means during the incident. He characterized the excessive aggression unleashed on his father by the federal agents as unwarranted.
Alejandro shared his father was in the midst of obtaining rights of an immigration status, namely ‘parole-in-place’. This provision proffers the rights for family members of active-duty military personnel, who are devoid of a legal status, some breather and permits them to remain in the U.S. temporarily, typically for a year, with the option for extension.
According to Alejandro, his undocumented father has been a resident of Orange County since the 1990s, running his own landscaping business. A reiteration was made: his father possessed no criminal record, something that was independently verified through a search of the local courts.
On that fateful Sunday, Narciso was held in a Los Angeles detention center, Alejandro disclosed. The scenario was promptly dubbed as a state of unmanageable chaos by U.S. Rep. Lou Correa from Santa Ana. Correa voiced his criticism of the current U.S. immigration policies, calling them severely faulty.
Correa questioned the logic of three sons, ready to sacrifice their lives for the nation, serving the country, while their parents face expulsion. Since Narciso’s detention, Correa had reached out to the Barranco family, extending his support to them like he had for others caught up in similar appalling situations.
The incident took place when Narciso was carrying out a standard landscaping work and was approached by a group of masked men armed and dressed in civilian attire. As per Alejandro, who subsequently had a chance to speak with his father, Narciso was trying to retrieve his ID from his truck after noticing the suspicious individuals.
As Narciso, armed with a weed whacker, was chased by federal agents, he was ultimately taken down and beaten severely by at least one agent. Not only was he punched in the face relentlessly, he was also pepper-sprayed from a dangerously close range, Alejandro detailed.
Additionally, Alejandro suspects his father’s shoulder may have been dislocated during the aggressive takedown. The family remains in the dark on whether Narciso received any medical attention post-arrest.
With an evident tone of hurt in his voice, Alejandro expressed how his love for his country and his parents compelled him to give four years of his life in service, including a deployment in Afghanistan, and attest to his patriotism. He firmly believes his father was a victim of racial profiling.
Born in Morelia, Mexico, Narciso moved to Orange County in the 1990s. He worked as a landscaper for various clients and owned a small business named Barranco Landscaping. Alejandro underscored that his father was an upstanding man, leading an honest living and raising a family.
A GoFundMe campaign established to handle Narciso’s legal expenses garnered impressive support, with contributions exceeding $41,000 by Sunday evening. The fundraising page described Narciso as a good-natured and industrious figure who had established his life here.
The horrific ordeal and accompanying video prompted an outcry from the public. An estimated one hundred people gathered in the streets, brandishing both American and Mexican flags, demanding an end to the federal agents’ sweeps occurring in Santa Ana, as revealed by an NBC4 coverage.
Santa Ana Mayor, Valerie Amezcua, remained unresponsive to the situation, and a public comment could not be obtained. A spokesperson for Border Patrol confirmed Barranco’s arrest by their agents, but refrained from giving additional comments.
Contradicting President Trump’s insistence on his administration’s focus on reprimanding only criminal immigrants, several reports suggest a significant number of people apprehended by immigration agents possess no serious, or even milder, criminal records at all.