SANTA ANA, Calif. – Federal agents violently detained a man in Orange County on Saturday morning. The interaction was captured on video.
What we know:
Santa Ana City Councilmember Johnathan Hernandez shared video of the arrest on Instagram.
It happened sometime before noon Saturday in Tustin, according to the post. The man, identified in a GoFundMe campaign as Narciso Barranco, was landscaping at the IHOP at the intersection of Edinger Avenue and Ritchie Street. That’s when what appeared to be Border Patrol agents pulled up and detained him.
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In the video, the agents can be seen pinning Barranco to the ground, while one agent punches Barranco in the head and face repeatedly. While it couldn’t be seen in the video, the GoFundMe page for Barranco said that agents also pepper sprayed him.
In just a few hours after the arrest on Saturday, Barranco’s GoFundMe had raised thousands of dollars.
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What they’re saying:
IHOP manager Guillermo Villareal told FOX 11’s Gina Silva that Barranco is the restaurant’s landscaper and he was trimming the bushes.
“He was just working,” Villareal said. “Then all of a sudden, these men in masks went after him.”
Barranco’s sons – whom are either serving or formerly served in the U.S. Marine Corps – spoke with FOX 11 after their dad got detained by federal agents.
Alejandro Barranco, a Marine veteran who served in Afghanistan, said he was infuriated by what “our own country is doing to our own people.”
“I love what I did, and I love serving my country. I think my brothers do as well, and it just infuriates us that our own country is doing this to our own people. What we fight for is justice, and we need a better pathway to fix all of this,” he said.
Alejandro told FOX 11 he found out about his father’s arrest from people who saw the video online and sent it to him. “He’s undocumented, yes—but he has no criminal record,” Alejandro said.
The day after the arrest, the family was able to speak with Narciso by phone. Alejandro describes the call as heartbreaking.
“He sounded scared, he sounded like he was crying. I’ve never heard him like that,” said Alejandro.
The other side:
FOX 11 has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and has not yet heard back.
The Source: Information in this story is from an Instagram post by Santa Ana City Councilmenber Johnathan Hernandez and a GoFundMe campaign established for Narciso Barranco.
