01/09/2020
Our hearts go out to the Seattle WTF polo community, who lost a dedicated player last weekend. Her family has asked that donations in her memory be sent to La Resistencia: http://laresistencianw.org/donate/
On Saturday, we lost a dedicated advocate and friend who fought with La Resistencia on behalf of those detained at the Northwest Detention Center, advocating for their survival and freedom. Sarah Leyrer was a lawyer who championed immigrant rights in the workplace. And she was a volunteer lawyer with La Resistencia for over 6 years, spending countless hours inside the NWDC meeting with people detained. She obtained statements from detained people regarding poor detention conditions and severe medical neglect. And when people detained protested their heinous conditions, it was Sarah who gathered their demands and calls for support for the numerous hunger strikes that occurred at NWDC. On Saturday, Sarah was killed by a county sheriff who slammed into her parked car while she waited for her husband in the Georgetown neighborhood in Seattle. Sarah fought insidious state and workplace violence; she dedicated her life to halting systems that value profit and racism over human thriving. Her death by a sheriff's vehicle makes this loss particularly unjust.
Throughout the years, Sarah always demonstrated commitment to justice and liberation for all immigrants. We will miss her dearly, but her legacy lives on in our abolitionist work. We will honor her memory by continuing to fight to end immigration detention and deportation in Washington state.
A memorial has been erected at the site of the crash, and we will be paying further tribute to her memory in some way. Please stay tuned for details.
