Mexican father of 3 U.S. Marines in California gets deportation reprieve

A federal immigration judge ended the deportation case against Narciso Barranco, a Mexican father of three U.S. Marines, whose arrest on video showing masked federal agents pinning him down and punching him outside an IHOP in Southern California went viral last year.

Rigo Hernandez, 44, told The Times that the judge terminated his stepfather’s case during a virtual hearing on Jan. 28.

“It was the third case the judge heard that day,” Hernandez said in a phone interview. “It was nerve-racking.”

Barranco made national headlines when Border Patrol agents took him into custody on June 21 as he worked as a landscaper outside a Santa Ana IHOP.

The arrest was caught on video that was shared on social media, and soon after, his eldest son was granting interviews to the media, keeping his father’s case in the news cycle. Alejandro Barranco, a Marine veteran, told The Times then that his father had been pepper-sprayed and that his shoulder had been dislocated.

At the time, the Department of Homeland Security denied his shoulder had been dislocated and blasted Barranco on social media, accusing him of assaulting federal law enforcement with a weed whacker. In a statement after the incident, the agency claimed Barranco “ran, then turned and swung a weed whacker directly at an agent’s face. He then fled through a busy intersection and raised the weed whacker again at the agent.”

But Barranco’s family said that he ran away because he was afraid and that no charges were ever filed against him. But an effort to remove him from the country was started in earnest.

During his father’s hearing last month, Hernandez felt anxious, he said, as the judge listened to arguments from attorneys representing his father and the Department of Homeland Security. But he started to feel slightly better as the judge’s questions started to lean in favor of his father.

“Once the judge said, ‘I’m compelled to agree with the defendant’s attorney,’ there was a sigh of relief,” he said.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Times.

Since the ruling, Hernandez said, his father’s ankle monitor has been removed and his check-ins with federal immigration officials were discontinued.

“He still has to settle his legal status,” Hernandez said. “But this clears the way for that.”

Shortly after his father was taken into custody in June, Hernandez said, his father’s attorney petitioned for him to be put into a federal program that allows undocumented spouses, children and stepchildren of U.S. citizens or military personnel to temporarily remain in the country and apply for a work visa.

The program, dubbed Parole in Place, allows immigrants to obtain legal permanent residence faster.

“Hopefully that Parole in Place will take full effect and then he can get his permanent residence, so we’re very happy,” Hernandez said. “My mom was very excited about the news, and I know Narciso feels a little bit more at ease.”

He said his father, however, is still very guarded and does not go out.

“We do limit his outings and his exposure because he is still at risk of possibly encountering [federal immigration agents],” Hernandez said.

Times staff writers Brittny Mejia and Kaitlyn Huamani contributed to this report

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