As the sun began to fall late Saturday afternoon, about 100 people marched through the streets of Pasco, Wash., to once again protest police brutality.
Emotions were high, with some demonstrators screaming that the police were murderers. But the afternoon rally – which included family of shooting victim Antonio Zambrano Montes – went off largely peacefully. Demonstrators demanded justice for the apple picker.
The latest fatal encounter caught on video between police and an unarmed man – in this case a Mexican national – has stoked the wave of nationwide protests over race and inequality that followed other incidents in Ferguson, Mo., and Staten Island, N.Y.
But in Pasco, an agriculture city of 68,000, most of whom are Latino, the social unrest over Zambrano’s death comes with the emotional national immigration debate as a backdrop.
Like many members of the majority Latino community, Zambrano was here illegally. He had been throwing rocks at police officers Feb. 10 – it’s unclear why – when three officers chased him and shot him as he was turning toward them and raising his hands. The shooting was caught on video by a witness.
Latinos leaders don’t want their calls for justice and police reforms to get lost amid a never-ending political debate that has plagued the nation for decades. But they acknowledge the power disparities that exist in Pasco have their roots in the region’s complex social history of using foreign labor to pick apples and cherries at nearby orchards.
Felix Vargas, chairman of Consejo Latino, a local advocacy group, who has been calling for an independent federal investigation of the shooting, said Zambrano would not have been saved by federal immigration legislation. But he noted that many of the systemic problems that fueled a climate of distrust between Latinos and police are related to members’ immigration status and fears they could be deported.
“In the case of Antonio Zambrano,” Vargas said, “he suffered mental illness. His family probably didn’t seek help for him because he was undocumented. The fear is: Take him to a clinic and next thing you know he’s on a bus back to Mexico. He was in effect denied help that he needed because of his immigration status.”
Zambrano lived for a decade in Pasco, a conservative city east of the Cascade Mountains. Family members said Zambrano had battled depression after being separated from his two teen daughters. He had to be rescued from a burning house fire by two city workers late last month. He injured himself recently in a fall at work.
At a makeshift memorial outside the bakery where Zambrano, an orchard worker, was killed, six red Washington state-picked apples rested at the foot of a series of letters, candles, flowers and balloons this weekend.
Cristina Arevalo, 33, and her son Jeffrey, 8, walked by the memorial on their way to a small Mexican convenience store where customers can buy calling cards and “masa harina,” a special flour used to make corn tortillas. Arevalo said she hasn’t spoken to Jeffrey much about what happened. Looking down at him on the busy street corner, she said she wants him to be able to trust the police. She worries that the shooting sends the wrong message about police and Latinos.
“I tell him that if there is a problem to call the police,” she said. “But I worry seeing this makes him think differently about the police’s role to protect citizens.”
Of an estimated 2 million agriculture workers in the United States, according to United Farm Workers of America, some 70 percent are thought by union and agriculture officials to be working here illegally.
Some of the Pasco demonstrations have shared characteristics of immigration-rights rallies across the county. Members of the community carried sign and chanted, “Si se puede” (Yes we can).
The shooting happened as the White House and the Republican-led Congress have been battling over President Barack Obama’s efforts to ease the nation’s deportation policies. On Friday, the White House announced plans to ask a federal judge to lift an injunction and allow the administration to continue to implement an executive order that would shield more than four million people from deportation.
Meanwhile, farm interests and growers have traveled across the country to Washington, D.C., to complain of crops being left to rot in fields because farmers can’t find enough workers willing to pick their crops. Many of their former workers no longer show up because they fear being stopped by police on their way to the fields and deported. Many already have.
While most of the demonstrators in Pasco had been local, there have been outside groups who have traveled into the city to join rallies. At a rally last week at a park near the police department, speakers pleaded with protesters to take off masks and put down offensive signs.
Pasco Mayor Matt Watkins said in an interview that demonstration leaders quickly clamped down on any sign of unrest. Watkins said the city has worked hard to keep lines of communication open to ensure people had a safe outlet for their anger and grief. The city provided bathrooms for the protesters.
“Certainly, Ferguson was fresh in my mind,” Watkins said. “I said, ‘Okay what did they do wrong? Don’t do those things.’”
The three officers involved in the shooting have all been placed on paid leave as special investigations team looks at the arrest. Vargas has called for a more independent federal investigation. He is expected to meet with U.S. Department of Justice officials next week.
The coroner of Franklin County, Wash., will also conduct a special inquest that would allow a jury of six to determine the cause and manner of death as well as whether the shooting was justified.
Police say Zambrano’s threatening behavior led officers to open fire. The 35-year-old threw multiple rocks, hitting two officers, and refused to put down other stones. They say a stun gun failed to subdue him.
According to court documents, Zambrano had his share of problems as well. He was convicted of assault in 2014 after a confrontation with Pasco police, who tried to stop him from hitting cars with a broom. He once tried to grab an officer’s gun from his belt while under the influence of methamphetamine.
Three other people have been shot and killed by local law enforcement officers in recent months. In those cases, prosecutors cleared officers with the Pasco Police Department and a sheriff’s deputy who was working on a regional SWAT team.
The Mexican Consul of Seattle, Eduardo Baca, met with city leaders on Friday. He raised concerns about the shooting and pressed for a thorough and transparent investigation. Baca commended the community for keeping attention on an important issue, but he stressed the importance and benefits of showing the world the power of peaceful protests.
“It also changes the perception of maybe people who still think of immigrants in a negative way,” Baca said.
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