Father of 3 Marines Who Was Beaten by ICE Agents Released, Leaving Family to Process His Detention

A father of three Marines who was beaten and detained by immigration agents while landscaping outside of an IHOP in California last month was released from federal custody Tuesday after having spent more than three weeks in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement center.

Narciso Barranco, 48, an undocumented immigrant, was released on a $3,000 bond from the Adelanto Detention Center, a privately operated facility in the Southern California desert, after weeks of advocacy from lawmakers and one of his sons, a Marine veteran who deployed to Afghanistan during the U.S. withdrawal from the country.

The son, 25-year-old Marine veteran Alejandro Barranco, told Military.com after the arrest that he initially "couldn't believe" the video depicting his father being repeatedly punched in the head by federal agents as they pinned him to the ground. The video of the beating was later posted on social media by the Department of Homeland Security.

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"The fact that he was hurt, the way he was injured, the way he was beat[en] and I'd say humiliated -- it made me angry and it made me want to speak up," he previously told Military.com.

But now after his father's release, Alejandro told the publication on Wednesday they were able to briefly connect -- and the two embraced in "long and strong hugs," as tears and laughter flowed. Their first meal together was at In-N-Out Burger on the way home.

"He's doing better now," Alejandro said. "It's a win for sure."

President Donald Trump has made deportations a top priority in his second term, tripling ICE arrest quotas in the process. That agenda has already affected the military community as agents have detained several family members of veterans and service members, with countless other cases likely unreported, an immigration attorney previously told Military.com.

At the same time, the military -- especially the Marine Corps -- has become increasingly close to federal immigration forces. The service sent hundreds of Marines to Los Angeles amid anti-ICE protests in the city; it deployed hundreds to the border to reinforce border barriers; and most recently, 200 Marines were sent to support ICE in Florida, with hundreds more troops expected to mobilize to other states.

The service has also partnered with ICE at three of its installations across the country to crack down on unlawful gate access by foreign nationals, a pilot program that resulted in the arrest of a Russian woman at Marine Corps Base Hawaii last month. None of the other services said they were enacting or planning to establish a similar program, though the Navy declined to comment.

Alejandro's two brothers are active-duty Marines stationed at Camp Pendleton, California. Their father's detention -- which coincides with the growing role the Marine Corps plays alongside the agencies that beat, detained and imprisoned him -- has been difficult for the family to process.

"It's definitely hard," he said, being clear that he was speaking on behalf of himself, but added that his brothers said they had received a lot of support from their superiors, many of whom come from immigrant backgrounds themselves. "It's orders from way, way above them, to the point where they can't really control it. They just have to follow orders. They can't risk their careers. We're in crazy times."

Alejandro Barranco, along with his brothers, are American citizens. Their father, Narciso, came to the U.S. from Mexico in the '90s and "just got straight to work," Alejandro said. He said that he wasn't sure whether his father knew he was eligible for a visa, a process that can take years, and didn't make obtaining one a priority as "he was always just trying to work and provide for us."

DHS claimed Narciso assaulted the ICE agents with a weed-wacker after waving it at one of them during the arrest, an assertion that Alejandro rejects. The several agents, who were masked, armed and in plain clothes, unexpectedly rushed Narciso and pepper-sprayed him in the face as he attempted to flee.

Notably absent from the department's response about the case was any indication that Narciso has a criminal record, something DHS frequently publicizes on social media after such cases in an effort to justify its agents' enforcement. Alejandro said that his father does not have a criminal record, and publicly available federal and local criminal record database searches under Narciso's name provided no results.

DHS offered a statement from its assistant secretary, Tricia McLaughlin, last month, repeating the assault claim and asserting that its agents "followed their training to use the minimum amount of force necessary." It did not provide any evidence of a criminal record when asked by Military.com, and refused to say whether Narciso had been charged with assault (his son said he wasn't) or if any of the agents were injured during the arrest. ICE also did not respond.

"They didn't handle it professionally," Alejandro said in a previous interview. He said at the time that he had spoken to his father after his arrival at the detention facility and that he hadn't received food, water or medical treatment at that point.

After his release, Narciso told his son that he went without water for 14 hours and that plumbing in the facility's restrooms caused toilets to flood over. His father also spoke with others in the detention center, "innocent people in there who are going through the same things he did," Alejandro said. "It's not fair, because they don't deserve that."

A spokesperson for 1st Marine Division out of Camp Pendleton, where Alejandro's two brothers serve, told Military.com last month that it was aware of the situation, but would not comment on ongoing legal matters, personal affairs or whether the Marine sons had received legal support, citing privacy protections and attorney-client privilege.

"1st Marine Division remains committed to supporting all Marines and their families through appropriate channels, including legal assistance services available to active-duty personnel and eligible dependents," Capt. Charles Kimbrough, the spokesperson, added.

Alejandro said that he was taking over his father's landscaping job at the IHOP so he wouldn't lose it and in the long-term hopes to build on his dad's business so Narciso can retire after working for decades. A GoFundMe campaign for his father has netted more than $230,000, and lawmakers helped the Barrancos locate Narciso after his arrest.

All three brothers attempted to seek assistance through the parole-in-place policy during their service, a program that allows certain undocumented family members of troops to temporarily stay in the U.S. But Alejandro described those efforts as mired by inconsistent bureaucracy made worse by long stretches in the field or on deployment that just "complicated everything."

"He's administration, so he has a little bit more downtime," Alejandro said in reference to his youngest brother when they were contacting attorneys about the program, "but that's when all of this happened."

Military.com previously reported that the Marine Corps had ordered its recruiters to stop posting about the parole-in-place policy after it had found at least a dozen who had incorporated it into their social media outreach in recent months.

But now, Alejandro said, his father is well on his way into the parole-in-place program, an effort that is possibly being expedited with help from attorneys. Narciso will have to check into court every few days as he works to gain more permanent status and navigate the complex legal system.

Alejandro expects to fly out to Washington, D.C., for a hearing on Capitol Hill next week, he said. He added that the support for his family has been overwhelming and that, as he has learned about this process through attorneys and lawmakers, he wants to help others navigate it too.

"It's good to have that information," he said, "so that if I know anybody, or if anybody wants to ask me, 'where can I go or what can I do to help' because they saw my dad's case, I can leave them that information."

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