Marine veteran defends gardener father seen being hit by immigration brokers in video

The Marine veteran son of a California gardener seen in a graphic video being repeatedly struck on the top by a masked Customs and Border Patrol agent and chased at gunpoint is pushing again towards authorities statements that his father attacked brokers with a weed trimmer.

The arrest of Narciso Barranco, 48, in Santa Ana on Saturday has drawn nationwide consideration as movies have been posted exhibiting an agent pinning Barranco, who’s undocumented, to the pavement along with his knee on his shoulder blade. The agent repeatedly smacks Barranco’s face and head as he tries to drag his proper arm behind his again to handcuff him, whereas different officers attempt to maintain Barranco down.

Preliminary movies of the arrest have been countered with movies from the administration, which has stated Barranco assaulted the officers along with his weed trimmer.

The Division of Homeland Safety posted a video Tuesday — the second it has posted — exhibiting Barranco swinging his weed trimmer as he turns round towards two immigration brokers who’re following him down a busy road with weapons drawn and pointed at him.

DHS stated in a press release Monday that Barranco ran, then turned and “swung a weed whacker straight at an agent’s face. He then fled by a busy intersection and raised the weed whacker once more on the agent.”

Narciso’s son Alejandro Barranco, 25, a Marine veteran, instructed MSNBC on Tuesday that had he handled a detainee the identical method whereas he was serving as a Marine, “it might have been a battle crime.”

“You see within the video the place my dad is working with the weed whacker, there’s a so-called agent working along with his gun and pointing it sideways at a automobile,” stated Alejandro, 25. “At what level in our coaching are we taught to carry our gun sideways? It’s all the time each arms on the gun and your finger off the set off.”

DHS instructed NBC Information that its officers used the minimal quantity of pressure and adopted coaching in utilizing minimal pressure vital. It stated they prioritized the protection of the general public and officers.

Alejandro stated he requested his father, whom he had visited on the Metropolitan Detention Middle in Los Angeles, concerning the assault allegations.

“When he heard this, he was like, he was shocked, he was confused. He’s like, when?” Alejandro stated. “It’s pure human motion, pure human response. He will get pepper-sprayed earlier than, like seconds earlier than that. He stated he by no means meant to harm anybody; he by no means meant to hit anybody. It’s simply pure motion.”

Alejandro stated in an NBC Information interview that he disagreed with DHS’ assertion that officers used minimal, applicable pressure.

“It was the utmost, proper earlier than utilizing deadly pressure, as a result of they had been beating his head, 4 200-plus guys, 200-plus pound brokers or no matter they had been, beating a 5-foot-7-inch, 150-pound man with no kind of weapon, so I don’t assume it was the minimal, and I don’t assume they dealt with it professionally,” he stated.

Brokers within the video are masked. Alejandro stated his father, who has lived in the US for many years, most certainly didn’t know who the brokers had been after they tried to take him, obtained scared and ran. He stated he believes the brokers had been racially profiling his father after they tried to take him.

Alejandro has been involved about circumstances on the detention middle the place his father is held. He stated that when he noticed him on the facility Tuesday, his father was carrying the identical garments as when he was arrested, that he had not been capable of wash his face or bathe, that he had blood on his shirt and that his eyes had been burning. Alejandro stated his father instructed him he’s being held in a cage with at the very least 70 different individuals, with one rest room and no privateness, and that he has acquired water “possibly as soon as a day” and “very, little or no meals.”

“I’m heartbroken,” stated Alejandro, whose two youthful brothers are active-duty Marines. “I like my mother and father. I like the neighborhood. I really feel betrayed.”

President Donald Trump deployed a whole lot of Marines in Los Angeles, in addition to Nationwide Guard members, throughout protests this month towards the administration’s immigration insurance policies, together with some that turned violent. Much like one other Marine who spoke to NBC Information, Alejandro stated he has blended emotions concerning the deployment of Marines when many are kids of immigrants like him.

“I do know they’re taking orders and simply doing their jobs. … I do know a few of them are most likely confused or they really feel harm, as nicely, as a result of I’m fairly certain loads of their relations are additionally undocumented,” he stated.

Service members’ households and spouses can apply to get inexperienced playing cards or be “paroled” in the US, giving them work authorization. Alejandro stated the household was making an attempt to try this for his father and can proceed with the paperwork whereas making an attempt to get him launched from detention.

NBC Information reported Sunday that one other Marine veteran is combating the detention of his spouse and mom of his two younger kids, considered one of them a 3-month-old toddler. She was arrested when she appeared for a inexperienced card appointment on an excellent elimination order.

Alejandro stated it was due to his father that he and his brothers joined the Marines.

“My dad and mother, they’ve all the time taught us to respect this nation, to be glad about this nation and to simply be appreciative of all of the alternatives this nation gives for us,” he stated.

The Trump administration had briefly paused arrests of restaurant, lodge and luxurious and agricultural employees after Trump stated they had been “good employees.” However the administration reversed itself.

Alejandro stated his father is a tough employee, with no legal file. He stated his father’s first fear after they spoke the day after he was arrested was ending the job he was doing at an IHOP restaurant when the arrest occurred.

“He requested me to speak to the supervisor on the IHOP and be sure that he knew that I used to be going to be taking up,” Alejandro stated.

Alejandro stated he nonetheless is feeling optimistic and is aware of one thing will occur to assist his father.

“It doesn’t make me love my nation much less,” he stated. “It makes me find it irresistible extra as a result of I see all these individuals standing up for my dad, and it’s, simply, this nation is all about, you understand, coming collectively as a neighborhood, loving one another and serving to one another out in order that this nation can look the very best, whether or not it’s panorama or simply individuals generally.”