Narciso Barranco walked down the steps of the Old County Courthouse Friday morning with his wife and supporters ready to face the cameras.
This humble landscaper from Tustin has been thrust into the national spotlight after a violent arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on June 21 went viral on social media. The video showed the 48-year-old Barranco pepper-sprayed and then beaten as he was held face down in the street. It is evident that ICE agents driving by a Santa Ana business park saw Barranco trimming a shrub and regarded him as a target of opportunity. This sparked a protest against ICE and for the release of Nariciso Barranco, On June 27, his son Alejandro Barranco spoke at a candlelight vigil to peacefully protest ICE and gather as a community.
Detention in squalid, overcrowded conditions followed but so did a powerful mobilization of community and legal support to arrange bail for Barranco – a man who had lived in the U.S. for decades, raised three American sons and had no criminal record.
After a tough legal fight, Barranco was released on bond last week. On Friday, July 25 he spoke publicly for the first time about his ordeal. “To the community, I don’t have the words to truly express what I feel in my heart,” Barranco said in Spanish. “So I can just say thank you for standing with my family and my children, for not leaving them alone.”
“As soft-spoken as he was, as gentle and as understated, he spoke with such emotion trying to tell the story of not just him, his family, but others he was with at the Adenanto Detention Center,” said Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento. “He realizes he’s now the voice of thousands of people who are going to have the same experience that his family is having to endure.”
In almost every way, Narciso Barranco represents the classic American immigration story repeated millions of times since before the country was founded. He came to the U.S. 30 years ago for a chance at a better life. He worked very hard, married, and taught his three sons to love their country. Barranco couldn’t have been prouder when they chose to become U.S. Marines. Two are still on active duty…