Esmeralda

Esmeralda Sanchez, who was not attending the game, said she came to the rally to support family members and friends who are not in the country legally.

We met to talk about his latest waltz with the headlines: He’s the lawyer for former Huntington Park Councilmember Esmeralda Castillo.

“If Esmeralda were Black or Asian, or hell — dare I say — even white, I think it would be reported differently. I honestly believe that. Because those communities are willing to set aside their differences for the better good, because they know that, hey, if one person is being mistreated, we all are.”

The blue-collar, overwhelmingly Latino city faces a lawsuit by former Councilmember Esmeralda Castillo, who alleges she was illegally removed in February in the wake of an investigation that determined Castillo didn’t live within city limits and was thus ineligible to serve.

The Huntington Park City Council has chosen a local civil service commissioner to replace former Councilmember Esmeralda Castillo, whose seat was declared vacant after a probe determined she was not living in the city.