Graphic new video footage appears to show the moment multiple masked men in US Border Patrol vests beat a father of three US Marines in the street, before he was bundled into the back of an unmarked car.
Narciso Barranco, 48, a landscaper from Tustin in Southern California, was left bloodied and visibly shaken after being violently detained by at least seven alleged immigration officers while working outside of an IHOP on Saturday.
In one short video first posted by Santa Ana councilman Johnathan Hernandez and the social Instagram account @Santaanaproblems, alleged Customs and Border Protection agents struck Barranco in the head at least six times, thrusting his face into the concrete and kneeling on his neck, before he was forced into the back of a light-colored Chevrolet SUV using a truncheon.
Barranco’s shoulder was left dislocated, his eldest son, Alejandro, a 25-year-old Marine veteran, told the Los Angeles Times.
Mr Hernandez’s office has “made themselves available to help with City resources,” according to his social media post.
In a second, close-up recording shared by the social media account, alleged agents wrestled a string trimmer from Barranco’s hands.
Screams and high-pitched whines could be heard from Barranco as several people knelt on top of his body, pinning him to the floor as cars drove past honking their horns.
“Give me your hand,” one agent said to Barranco, which was returned with further squeals.
“Ey, leave him alone, bro!” a person filming from a nearby vehicle shouted.
One of the alleged agents, sporting a balaclava and sunglasses, briefly unholstered what appears to be a pistol before placing it back on his hip.
Barranco’s arrest comes against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s ongoing workplace raids across the nation. They sparked a wave of demonstrations that resulted in the president deploying the National Guard and US Marines to LA in an attempt to end the unrest.
Alejandro Barranco, who served with the Marine Corps in Afghanistan, told the Santanero that his father was transferred to a detention facility in LA.
The younger Barranco, who said his two younger brothers are active serving with the Marines, said his father was able to make a call and asked him to “finish the job he was doing when he got detained”.
He confirmed to the newspaper that his father had already begun the process of establishing his citizenship before Saturday’s arrest.
“I didn’t really know what to say. I was still in shock and distress. I do believe my father was racially profiled – they didn’t ask him anything,” Alejandro Barranco said. “They just started chasing him, and he ran because he was scared. He didn’t know who was after him.”
The military veteran added that his father was a law-abiding person who was kind and courteous to those in his neighborhood.
“He has always worked hard to put food on the table for us and my mom,” he said. “He was always careful and always did his taxes on time. He never caused any problems and he is known as a kind and helping person by everyone in our community.”
The family has launched a GoFundMe campaign called “Justice for Narciso: Assaulted and detained by CBP,” which had raised more than $64,500 by Monday morning to help cover Barranco’s legal and medical costs.
“He was pepper-sprayed and punched in the face multiple times by these masked and unidentified ‘officers,’” the fundraiser organizer wrote. “He is a good, hard-working man. He has raised his family here and has established himself here. What we ALL saw today was disgusting and heart-wrenching.”
The Independent has contacted the CBP for more information.
