LA TV Station Forced to Retract It's False Story Accusing Border Patrol of Abusing a Landscaper

A landscaper’s arrest in Santa Ana became a media flashpoint after KTLA aired a partial video portraying Border Patrol agents as aggressors—only to be corrected when DHS released the full footage.

Key Facts:

KTLA initially aired footage of Border Patrol agents subduing a man in Santa Ana, describing it as a violent, unmarked arrest.
The video lacked context: DHS later posted additional footage showing the man attacking agents with a weed wacker.
KTLA updated its article only after DHS released the full clip, but the correction was buried deep in the story.
California Rep. Lou Correa blamed “Trump’s immigration crackdown” without addressing the attack on agents.
DHS and CBP officials pushed back, accusing media outlets of distorting enforcement narratives.

The Rest of The Story:

KTLA’s initial report described a group of masked Border Patrol agents forcibly detaining Narciso Barranco and shoving him into an unmarked SUV.

The article led with alarming language and emotional interviews, including Barranco’s son alleging racial profiling.

But it wasn’t until well after readers scrolled past these claims that KTLA added DHS’s version of events: a video showing Barranco swinging a weed wacker at agents.

CBP and DHS officials quickly took to social media to release the full encounter and defend their officers.

“Perhaps the mainstream media would like our officers to stand there and be mowed down instead of defending themselves?” DHS posted.

The delayed correction from KTLA included a note acknowledging DHS’s response—but it was placed low in the article, far beyond where most readers typically stop.

Commentary:

This is how media manipulation works in 2025.

A video gets clipped, context gets stripped, and headlines are crafted to stoke outrage.

The truth? That gets buried—if it’s even included at all.

KTLA didn’t just get the story wrong; they got it backwards. They presented Border Patrol agents as the aggressors, when in reality, they were responding to a violent attack.

But the facts didn’t fit the preferred narrative, so the full story got delayed, diluted, and downplayed.

The editorial sleight-of-hand is subtle but effective. By the time the truth emerges, public opinion has already been poisoned.

That editor’s note? Tucked far below the fold, after emotional quotes and inflammatory framing. Then comes the political theater.

Rep. Lou Correa wasted no time using the incomplete footage to score points against Trump, accusing federal agents of violence and fear-mongering—without a word about the man swinging the weed wacker.

This isn’t journalism. It’s activism with a byline.

And it sends a dangerous message: if you resist arrest violently, the media might just make you a martyr.

Border Patrol agents have a hard enough job as it is.

When they defend themselves, they shouldn’t have to fend off smears from cable news anchors and grandstanding politicians too.

KTLA’s walk-back wasn’t accountability—it was damage control.

And it came only after DHS embarrassed them with the actual footage.

The real question here isn’t about one landscaper’s arrest—it’s about whether the media can be trusted to tell the full truth when that truth doesn’t fit their storyline.