<
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/us/narciso-barranco-ice-deport-marines-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.oE8.XieV.4oFxeFpF2uMg>
"Before dawn on June 21, Narciso Barranco loaded his weed trimmer, lawn mower
and leaf blower into his white F-150 pickup. He had three IHOP restaurants to
landscape and then seven homes. His goal was to finish in time to cook dinner
with his wife, Martha Hernandez.
It was a cool Saturday morning in Tustin, Calif., about 35 miles south of Los
Angeles. After wrapping up work at the first IHOP, Mr. Barranco stopped to buy
a wheel of fresh white cheese. He returned home and left it on the kitchen
counter for Ms. Hernandez before driving seven minutes to an IHOP in Santa Ana.
He paid no attention to the Home Depot across the parking lot. Later, he would
wish he had been more aware.
Migrants for decades have gathered outside the big-box stores, hoping a
contractor or homeowner might offer a day’s work. But under President Trump’s
immigration crackdown, Home Depot has become a prime target for federal agents
under pressure to round up undocumented people like Mr. Barranco, who slipped
across the border from Mexico more than 30 years ago.
Mr. Barranco, 48, was weeding between bushes when men in masks descended on
him. He raised the head of his weed trimmer as he retreated. The authorities
would say they believed he was attacking them; Mr. Barranco’s family said he
was scared and just trying to move away, not to harm anyone. But in a tweet,
the Department of Homeland Security would cite that moment to justify what
happened next."
Via Steven Vaughan-Nichols, who wrote "This is so, so wrong."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
