Father-of-three Marines, Narciso Barranco, 48, was violently beaten by seven or more masked men and forced into the back of an unmarked car during an apparent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid in Orange County, California.
According to the GoFundMe donation page, Mr. Barranco was at his landscaping job at IHOP in Santa Ana, CA, when he was pepper-sprayed and punched in the face multiple times by masked and unidentified alleged officers.
Barranco screamed out in pain as the apparent agents continued to hit him while he was face down on the pavement and placed him in handcuffs, then thrust him into the back of an unmarked car by an agent wielding a baton as he yelled out.
Barranco’s 25-year-old Marine veteran son told CNN that his father was born in Mexico and has lived in the US since the 90s. He is undocumented but has no criminal record, his son said.
“He was always a good dad,” Alejandro Barranco told the outlet. “He always made sure we had food on the table. He always taught us to respect, to love our country, to always give back.”
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin called the hardworking father of three Marines an “illegal alien.”
“The illegal alien ran, then turned and swung a weed whacker directly at an agent’s face,” said McLaughlin. “He then fled through a busy intersection and raised the weed whacker again at the agent. The illegal alien refused to comply every step of the way—resisting commands, fighting handcuffs, and refusing to identify himself.”
However, his son explained that his father likely became frightened and ran when approached by masked federal agents “with guns out.”
“He just got scared,” Alejandro Barranco said.
He said when confronted by “masked men” with “big guns,” “we’re gonna be scared and we’re also gonna try to defend ourselves, especially when they don’t identify themselves, who they are.”
Yeah, that’s the thing. Well, one of them. ICE isn’t showing ID and appearing in communities while covering their faces. Here’s a question I posed, complete with a typo:
Seems like a legitimate question to me.