Narciso Barranco came to America for a better life. He built a business, paid his taxes, and raised three sons who became U.S. Marines. Over the weekend, four masked men threw him to the pavement, beat him bloody, and disappeared him into custody—no food, no water, no medication. His crime? There wasn’t one. In this powerful episode, Mark Whitney demands answers and justice, exposing a brutal system that punishes patriotism when it comes in brown skin. If this is how we treat the father of three Marines, what does that say about who we’ve become? What does it say about us?
Show Notes — America's Coach (June 22, 2025)
Recorded Live In San Diego, CA · 9:00A Pacific
Theme: Equal Protection Of The Law
“Raise three Marines, pay your taxes, run a landscaping business—and we’ll throw you in the back of a van and beat the shit out of you.”
“Crossing the border isn’t a crime—but getting the hell beaten out of you for it somehow isn’t either.”
“He’s being treated like a violent fugitive—but what’s his crime? Owning a weed whacker in Orange County?”
“If border crossing were a felony, Narciso Barranco would have more rights than he has right now.”
“This isn’t immigration policy—it’s a targeted strike on due process.”
“You can spit in public and get a jury trial, but cross a border and we throw you in a cage without food, water, or medicine.”
“The government spent $185,000 per Marine to ‘liberate’ Los Angeles from landscapers like Narciso.”
It is darkly ironic that at the very moment the United States unilaterally attacks another sovereign nation, Narciso Barranco is unilaterally attacked in a parking lot.
Key Topics Covered
The Housing Crisis Deconstructed
Is housing a right? A breakdown of the political argument.
Why most Americans, especially under 40, are priced out.
How local zoning laws intentionally limit supply.
The Geography of Wealth
It’s not if you own your home. It’s where you own your home.
Why scarcity in desirable zip codes like 92130 drives exponential equity.
Introduction to 92067 (Rancho Santa Fe): where the landlords live.
A Playbook for the 25-Year-Old You
Leave your hometown.
Move to a wealthy, graduate-degree-dense zip code.
Start a service business (plumbing, electrical, property management, etc.)
Build to $500K+ annual income and qualify for high-equity homeownership.
Real Talk on Equity and Family Formation
How bedroom count influences birth rates.
Why “van life” and “tiny homes” are not viable wealth-building strategies.
YouTube Minimalism vs. Generational Legacy.
Actionable Takeaways
Don’t buy a house for just lifestyle—buy it for location and leverage, too.
Target zip codes with high concentrations of professional degrees.
Service industries remain AI-proof and lucrative in wealthy enclaves.
Generational wealth is built through ownership and systems, not jobs.
UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT (video is authoritative)
OPENING BILLBOARD · HOUSE ANNOUNCER, SHADOE STEVENS
Ladies and gentlemen, from San Diego, California, Mark Whitney!
COACH
Good morning, everybody. It is—oh, look at that. We got camera six running. Let's go back to camera one. So much better. I'm Mark Whitney. I'm America's Coach. And I need to set my 30-minute clock because we are running late this morning. Normally we are up and running here at nine o'clock, but today I had to switch things up. It was going to be such a fun, lighthearted episode of America's Coach this morning. Yesterday, I wrote an essay called The History of Screwing. We were going to talk about creativity and persuasion and things like that. Maybe we'll do that tomorrow. But today we have something a little more important to talk about.
There was a preemptive strike on a landscaper in the next county north of me, in Orange County. This is about 45 seconds. Check it out:
Video caught the violent detainment. The man punched several times. His son says he was also pepper sprayed.
"I just have a lot of anger and I'm really sad at the same time," his son said, after watching his dad—a gardener with a weed whacker in hand—running from agents who chased him down in a Santa Ana parking lot.
"I think part of it was racial profiling. I think they assumed, since he was just working landscaping, that he probably had no documentation. I'm confused, and my heart is broken because I love my country."
So much so, Alejandro joined the Marines, as did his two other brothers who are currently on active duty. Their father, Narciso, came here from Mexico in the '90s for a better life.
"My parents always told me, respect everybody. Love your country. He has no criminal history."
So Narciso Barranco raises three Marines and finds himself getting the hell beaten out of him by four goons en masse. Presumably, those are ICE agents or Border Patrol agents—but we don't really know. It was an unmarked car. They were wearing border vests. Well, we don't really know, except we do—because according to his son, he's being held in ICE detention. When his son last spoke to him, it had been 24 hours. No medication. No food. No water.
Here’s what we need to do: We need to get this guy about a million dollars. Their GoFundMe goal is to raise 90 grand. Yeah, you gotta get that up to about a million. You should donate an uncomfortable amount of money to the Barranco family.
And I’ll tell you why.
Let’s talk about the least offensive things people do that are considered crimes—and then contrast that with the most offensive thing humans can do: violate international law by launching a bomb into a country that never attacked you. Which is what the United States just did in Iran. That’s the eighth Muslim country we’ve attacked since 9/11.
They say it’s not war—it’s a “preemptive strike.” Well, what happened at the World Trade Center was also a targeted strike. Was it not? And we treated that as an act of war—even though it wasn’t done by a nation-state. It was independent actors, part of a gang. It launched the War on Terror.
Had Iran launched a targeted strike on Cleveland, I think we would consider that an act of war.
The reason we need to get this family a million dollars is because some smart lawyer needs to argue that the entire way border crossers are treated in the U.S. is unconstitutional. The Trump administration has reframed border crossers as criminals and invaders.
And now they're treating individuals like Narciso—who’s been landscaping here for 30 years, paying taxes, running a business, raising three Marines—like criminals.
He gets the shit kicked out of him. He's detained with no water, no food, no medication. All while Donald Trump is white-labeling the U.S. government—TrumpCard.gov: “Give us $5 million and you're in.”
Raise three Marines, pay taxes, run a landscaping company—we’ll throw you in the back of a van and beat the shit out of you. Meanwhile, masked goons who've raised zero Marines are kicking the shit out of this guy going about his business with a weed whacker.
Look, I went through the actual criminal justice system. I was arrested in 1991, convicted by a jury of lying to a bank. In 1992, I reported to federal prison. That was a felony. At no time did anyone beat the shit out of me.
250,000 criminal defendants were sentenced under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines over 15 years until someone made the right argument and the Supreme Court declared them unconstitutional. Everything is legal until the right lawyer makes the right argument to the right judge.
I made that same argument in my case. Represented myself. Said these "guidelines" are being treated as mandatory. Took the Supreme Court 20 years to agree. Now judges have discretion again. Most still follow the guidelines, but now they don't have to.
Let’s ask some logical questions. What happened to Narciso—does that look like something that would happen to a violent criminal fleeing justice? A suspect who shot at law enforcement? That’s what it looks like. But that’s not what it was. It was a landscaper with a weed whacker.
And this is the same weekend we dropped bunker busters on Iran—a sovereign nation that did not attack us. Narciso Barranco did not attack us. He crossed a border.
Would he be better off if border crossing was a crime? I think yes—because he’d have more protections.
Have you ever loitered? Littered? Been publicly intoxicated? Spit in public? Run a red light? Failed to yield to a pedestrian? Played loud music? These are crimes.
Crossing the border—not a crime.
In California, even a littering ticket gets you a jury trial. You can call Mr. Ticket, pay $99, and he’ll get you a trial. Because it’s a crime. You get constitutional and procedural protections.
Let’s go to the chart. For a felony, you get:
Right to appointed counsel
Right to remain silent
Right to confront witnesses
Presumption of innocence
High burden of proof
Full discovery
Full due process
Narciso has:
No appointed counsel
Minimal discovery
Minimal due process
Virtually no burden of proof for the government
If crossing the border were a felony, this case would be dismissed. Excessive force. The government has a duty to do things in the least violent way possible. This is the opposite.
Give this man a million dollars. If $100 is uncomfortable, give $100. If you can afford $10,000, do it.
Nobody in Congress is stepping up. Nobody. Republican, Democrat—none of them. Tweeting is not serious. Social media is not serious. This is serious. I’m here, live, standing, using my whole body, proposing a serious solution.
The Trump administration didn’t rewrite these laws—they're just taking them to their logical extreme.
A landscaper with zero criminal history, zero traffic tickets, three Marines to his name—gets thrown in a van and beaten. Meanwhile, $5 million buys you an express lane.
What is the dollar value of raising three Marines? Some say priceless. Others? At least $5 million.
The U.S. recently deployed 700 Marines to L.A. to “liberate” it. That cost $130 million. That’s $185,000 per Marine. That’s what we’re willing to spend to stop other landscapers, apparently.
So let me ask: what value do you assign to raising three Marines?
It’s darkly ironic that at the very moment the United States unilaterally attacks another sovereign nation, Narciso is arbitrarily beaten in a parking lot.
When we bomb nations that haven’t attacked us, international law says they can retaliate—and it’s legal. What the U.S. did to Iran is illegal under international law. George Bush is under subpoena in several countries for Iraq. U.S. presidents don’t get prosecuted because we’re not party to the International Criminal Court treaty. We have power. We have money.
Here’s a chart: Countries the U.S. has bombed since 9/11—Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, Iran, Lebanon. Mostly Muslim countries. That’s the common denominator.
Let’s rethink targeted strikes. Let’s get Narciso Barranco some money. Let’s get him a great lawyer. If people who cross the border are treated like violent felons, they should get the protections violent felons get.
Narciso was treated horribly. Sean Diddy Combs gets every right and protection under the law—as he should. So should Narciso. But crossing the border isn’t even a misdemeanor. It’s legally less than jaywalking. Less than a parking ticket.
These are legal facts. Not debatable.
This behavior cannot be reconciled. And it must stop.
Get this guy a million dollars.
My name is Mark Whitney. I am America’s Coach. Coach@AmericasCoach.com.
We’ll see you tomorrow.
CLOSING BILLBOARD · SHADOE STEVENS
Keep Banging!
Music
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