LOS ANGELES (AP) — An immigration judge has dismissed the deportation case against a landscaper who wasarrestedin Southern California last year, and thefather of three U.S. Marinesis now on a path toward legal permanent residency in the U.S.
The June detention of Narciso Barranco, who came to the U.S. from Mexico in the 1990s but does not have legal status, caught widespread attention as thecrackdownon immigration by President Donald Trump’s administration drewscrutiny and protests.
Witnesses uploaded videos of the arrest in Santa Ana, a city in Orange County. Federal agents struggled with Barranco and pinned him to the ground outside an IHOP restaurant where he had been clearing weeds.
Barranco was taken to a Los Angeles detention center and placed in deportation proceedings. In July, he was released on a $3,000 bond and ordered to wear an ankle monitor.
In a Jan. 28 order terminating the deportation case, Judge Kristin S. Piepmeier said that Barranco, 49, had provided evidence that he was the father of three U.S.-born sons in the military, making him eligible to seek lawful status.
“I feel happy,” Barranco said in a phone interview in Spanish. “Thank God I don’t have that weight on top of me.”
Barranco said he is still staying mostly at home and not taking any chances going out until his legal paperwork has been finalized.
The Department of Homeland Security said Thursday that it would appeal the judge’s decision, which was first reported by the New York Times.
Barranco’s lawyer Lisa Ramirez said her client feels “extreme relief” now that immigration officers have removed his ankle monitor and discontinued his check-ins.
“The aggressive nature of the apprehension, it was traumatic,” Ramirez said Thursday. “Mr. Barranco has had zero criminal history. They came after him because he was a brown gardener in the streets of Santa Ana.”
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
