Pilar Castro vs. Labor & Industries: One Man's Protest Poses Problems for East Wenatchee Police
Castro was injured on the job, now he's camping out in front of the East Wenatchee L&I office until he gets the benefits he said he's entitled to
While many are wrapping presents and planning Christmas dinners, Pilar Castro, 76, is camping out in the snow and rain outside the office of Labor & Industries in East Wenatchee.
He’s been there for more than a year and said he’ll stay until he gets what he’s owed.
Castro is a citizen and has lived in the United States for more than 40 years. In 1997, he was working for an orchardist in Chelan when he was injured on the job and disabled. He doesn’t speak English so he spoke through interpreters Wilber and Martha Zaldivar, a local couple who learned about his protest recently.
For Castro, like many farm workers, housing is tied to the ability to work.
“After the accident and everything happened, his boss was giving him shelter, giving him housing. But after that he stopped doing it,” Wilber said. “So he turned the water off and the power.”
He was evicted and since then Castro has struggled with housing insecurity. At one point he shared a one-bedroom apartment with seven other people.
By 2001 he said knew he was permanently disabled, saw a doctor who confirmed it and told L&I. He said they didn’t agree and since then have denied the benefits he says he entitled to.
“He said he wants to get paid what he deserves,” Wilber said.
Those benefits amount to $1,400 a month, and without that or the ability to earn an income, he doesn’t have many options. He owns a vehicle, which he used to park in front of the building off of Grant Road in East Wenatchee.
For a long time that’s where he would sleep in at night. But he said his car was towed after one of his many arrests for trespassing.
He can’t afford to get the vehicle out of the impound, so now he has a collapsible red wagon he uses to store and transport his few belongings. He spends most days and some nights in front of the office and said he’s been arrested five times in the last two months.
East Wenatchee Police Chief Rick Johnson said his officers have responded to that location because of Castro more than a dozen times since October of 2023.
They’ve also sent non-law enforcement resources to Castro to try to help him.
“We have had the behavioral health team contact him – he’s refused any help from them or services from them,” he said. “We’ve had the rescue mission staff contact him, he’s refused any assistance from them and we’ve been working with L&I and are still working with L&I on the proper trespassing notice.”
Johnson said he doesn’t know why Castro is refusing help from these entities, but it’s clear members of the public are worried about him. So is he. He said they have responded to multiple welfare check requests on Castro and he’s reluctant to just keep arresting the man because he is elderly and poses no danger to himself, the public or his officers.
But the fact remains that he is trespassing on private property. If L&I chooses to permanently trespass Castro then EWPD will have to arrest him every time he sets foot on their property, and Johnson said simply throwing him in jail isn’t the correct course of action either. Criminal trespass in the second degree is a misdemeanor that can result in up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.
“We don’t think him being incarcerated is the right thing in this situation,” he said. “But obviously we have a property there that isn’t happy with the situation either. We’re trying to resolve it with Mr. Castro but thus far have not been successful.”
He said he doesn’t know how this situation will turn out, but it’s something that he and his officers spend a lot of time trying to resolve. The day we spoke, Johnson said they had been in touch with both Castro and L&I.
But there’s still an impasse.
“We have yet been able to figure out a resolution that satisfies any of the parties,” he said.
Matt Ross, Public Affairs Manager for the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, wrote that due to healthcare privacy rights he’s very limited in what he can say about the matter.
“As the weather continues to get colder and wetter, we are getting more and more concerned about Mr. Castro’s health and safety,” Ross wrote in an email. “Labor & Industries, the EWPD, and the local sheriff have all made efforts to connect him to local resources. He has refused all of those offers so far. We have also been in contact with his family, although those conversations have not lead to a resolution yet.”
Ross also clarified that L&I is not the property owner, but that they are the tenant.
“The owner has trespassed Mr. Castro on multiple occasions in the past, and it does not keep him away for very long,” Ross wrote.
As the stalemate continues Castro wheels his red wagon off to find something to eat or a place to sleep nearby. At his age, in the rain and the snow, that can be a harrowing prospect.
“He said he was walking around and he felt dizzy so he fell,” Wilber said.
So he went to the East Wenatchee Clinic about two blocks away on Highline Drive, but was unable to pay for the medical care he received.
“He told the clinic to send the bill to L&I.”
My Interview with Castro
You can listen to my full interview with Castro in the parking lot outside the East Wenatchee L&I office here.
I’d like to thank Wilber and Martha Zaldivar for reaching out to me about this and for translating. I hope to see this issue resolved soon and in a way that results in Mr. Castro being housed.
If you would like to connect with local resources that support homeless folks, you can visit the Wenatchee Rescue Mission’s website here. For a full list of resources from mental health care, substance abuse resources, housing help and more, you can find those via the Chelan Douglas Health District’s website here.
If the doctor confirmed Mr Castro’s work related disability, why is L&I denying his monthly benefits? Are they second guessing the doctor? Has Mr Castro been able to discuss his claim and L&I’s denial with an attorney?
Were outreach and police responses provided in Spanish?