Border Patrol agents violently arrested Santa Ana landscaper and father of 3 US Marines outside IHOP

On June 21, 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents confronted Narciso Barranco, a 49-year-old landscaper, while he was clearing weeds outside an IHOP restaurant at Edinger Avenue and Ritchey Street in Santa Ana, California. Video of the encounter, widely circulated on social media, shows masked agents forcing Barranco to the pavement and striking him repeatedly in the head and neck before handcuffing him and putting him in an unmarked vehicle. Barranco, who came to the U.S. from Mexico in the 1990s, is undocumented but has no criminal record; his three sons all serve or have served in the U.S. Marine Corps, one a veteran of the Afghanistan war.

DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said Barranco "ran, then turned and swung a weed whacker directly at an agent's face," fled through a busy intersection, and "refused to comply every step of the way," and that agents "used the minimum amount of force necessary." The video circulated by DHS itself shows Barranco holding lawn equipment but does not show him striking an agent with it. His son Alejandro, a Marine veteran, said his father panicked and ran because he was confronted by masked men with guns drawn who never identified themselves. Witness Guillermo Villareal, the IHOP's manager, said Barranco "was just working" when "these men in masks went after him." Santa Ana Mayor Valerie Amezcua publicly called the agents' conduct "unprofessional" and said "these agents are here to hurt us."

Barranco was taken to a Los Angeles-area ICE detention center and placed in deportation proceedings; he was released in July 2025 on a $3,000 bond with an ankle monitor. At the time of his arrest he had begun, but not yet formally submitted, an application for "parole in place," a program letting undocumented family members of active-duty or veteran Marines seek lawful status.

Updates

2026-01-28 — Immigration judge terminated Barranco's deportation case [4]

An immigration judge terminated the deportation case against Barranco during a virtual hearing, finding him eligible to seek lawful permanent status as the father of U.S.-born Marines. His ankle monitor was removed and his routine immigration check-ins ended. DHS said it would appeal.

2026-03-16 — DHS formally appealed dismissal of Barranco's deportation case [5][6]

DHS filed a formal appeal of the immigration judge's dismissal, submitted on the final day allowed under the appeal deadline. The appeal argues Barranco does not qualify for permanent residency because his petition was still pending and his parole-in-place application had been filed with the wrong agency. The appeal remained pending as of late March 2026, leaving Barranco without protection from deportation while it proceeds.