The immigrant father of three U.S. Marines was released from federal custody Tuesday, three weeks after being violently detained by immigration agents while working his landscape job in Santa Ana, California, last month.
Narciso Barranco was released on $3,000 bond from Adelanto Detention Center.
“Thank you for everything,” Barranco said by phone after he was released from federal custody.
His son, Alejandro, said his father looked bad as he stepped out of the detention center.
“He was wearing the same clothes, and he was crying,” the son, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, said as he was preparing to take his father to a doctor to make sure he’s free of pain, followed by home-cooked meals.
The family's post-release plan was “after (the medical examination), go home, eat some good food. For sure, we’re cooking that carne asada,” Alejandro told NBC Los Angeles last week.
The release was granted following an emotional court hearing last week in Adelanto as Barranco faced a judge.
“He looked nervous, for sure,” Alejandro Barranco described his father’s demeanor during the hearing. “He was bouncing his leg up and down. Clearly, he was uncomfortable. He’s never been in a position like that.”
Narciso Barranco was working outside a Santa Ana IHOP when he was approached by federal agents on June 21. Video footage from the scene showed the 48-year-old was pinned to the ground and punched before being taken into custody.
Authorities had accused Barranco of assaulting a federal agent with a weed whacker, but he and his family denied the claim, saying he was trying to protect himself from pepper spray.
“When he heard that, he was shocked,” Alejandro Barranco said. “He never intended to hit anyone. He never intended to hurt anyone.”
Barranco was charged only with being in the country illegally, not for the alleged assault of an agent, his son said.
Video from the June detainment also showed Narciso Barranco running with the garden tool but did not capture the moments before the confrontation at a busy Santa Ana intersection.
Barranco, who’s lived in the U.S. for more than 30 years, is set to have another court proceeding in August. And the family said they were filing for the Parole in Place program, which allowed undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens to more easily apply for permanent residency and citizenship.
“We’re willing to give all this for this country and then they take our parents like this. I don’t think it’s fair,” Alejandro Barranco said.
