Immigrant Rights and Binational Affairs Advocate
ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties
Esmeralda is a native of Tijuana and has an acute and multi-faceted understanding of US-Mexico border issues through personal and professional experiences and a complete overview of the needs and injustices that impact migrants at an individual and policy level. She is a co-founder of Al Otro Lado a bi-national, social justice legal services organization serving indigent deportees, immigrants, and asylum seekers in Tijuana, Mexico. For the past four years, she has been the Immigrant Rights and Binational Affairs Advocate for the ACLU of SDIC. Esmeralda is a recipient of the FWD.us “Keeping Families Together Champions Award” for her efforts to reunite children and parents during the family separation crisis of 2018. Esmeralda is a graduate from Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, School of Law.