After Santa Ana’s gardener was pinned down and violently detained by federal immigration agents on Saturday, the son of the US Marine Corps expressed a sense of anger, sadness and betrayal.
Video clips outside Santa Anai Hop on Richie Street and Edinger Avenue show Narcisso Baranco repeatedly punched his head last Saturday.
The Department of Homeland Security shared on social media that Baranco had assaulted federal agents with weed robbers, urging them to respond proactively.
However, his family said that the longtime landscaper was just trying to protect himself from Mace and some armed agents.
“I felt a lot of anger because it took four or five guys to get a 5’7 and 5+ pound guy to get a 5’7 and 150 pound guy,” said Alejandro Barranco, a landscaper’s son and Marine veteran.
In the same video from the arrest, the man can be heard screaming, “Why are you hitting him?”
Homeland Security Advisor Tricia McLaughlin claimed the gardener tried to escape federal agents through a busy intersection in Santa Ana.
“(He) raised the weed whacker again with an agent. The illegal alien has followed every stage of the road, resisted orders, fought handcuffs, and refused to identify himself,” McLaughlin said in a statement.
However, the IHOP manager disputed the claim, saying he saw what happened during his arrest.
“He was protecting himself,” Guillermo Villarreal said. “He’s not attacking (no one). They were doing him so hard.”
Marine veterans said their father, a hardworking man with no criminal history, did not attack or induce agents. Baranco’s two other sons are currently serving in the Marines.
“These were my people so I felt betrayed,” Baranco said. “My father is my people. The community is my people. The military is my people. At the end of the day, it is my people to my people. I get hurt.”
Young Baranco said he spoke to his father while in custody at the Los Angeles Detention Center. The father told his son that his shoulder hurt, and he was sprayed with a mace nearby.
“The video looks like his shoulder has been dislocated,” the son said. “(He said) it hurts a lot and he said his eyes were burning. He was thirsty and hungry.”
All three sons of Narciso Baranco serve in the US Marines.
The family tried to talk about parole working with immigration lawyers and immigration benefits for service members.
Marine veterans begged the Trump administration to be considerate of people like his father.
“It broke my heart and I love what I did with the Marines because I love my country,” he explained. “At the same time, I love my parents, I love my roots. I think I need an easier path to legal status here in the United States.”
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