To: Board of Supervisors
From: Monica Nino, County Administrator
Report Title: 2025 TRUTH Act Community Forum
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
HOLD a community forum regarding the provision of access of certain individuals to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, pursuant to Government Code section 7283.1(d):
a. RECEIVE opening staff report from the County Administrator's Office (Enid Mendoza, Senior Deputy County Administrator);
b. PRESENTATION from Immigrant Legal Resource Center (Miosotti Tenecora, Staff Attorney)
c. REPORT from the Sheriff-Coroner (Hon. David O. Livingston, Sheriff-Coroner); and
d. OPEN Public Comment
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact.
BACKGROUND:
The purpose of this community forum is to comply with the Transparent Review of Unjust Transfers and Holds Act (Government Code section 7283.1(d)), commonly referred to as the “TRUTH Act”, which requires the Board of Supervisors to hold at least one community forum annually, with at least 30 days’ notice, if a "local law enforcement agency" operated by the Board provided the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency “access” to individuals for civil immigration enforcement purposes during the prior calendar year.
The County has held TRUTH Act community forums since 2018. On July 9, 2018, the Sheriff's Office informed ICE and the United States Marshals Service (the "Service") of the determination to terminate agreements with the Service related to the housing of ICE Agency detainees. The County has not entered into subsequent contracts and does not house ICE Agency detainees within the adult or juvenile detention facility systems.
It is important to note that the necessity of the County holding today’s forum pursuant to the TRUTH Act is not a punitive measure. Rather, it is a transparency initiative in statute designed to ensure notification to the public of the extent and nature of communications between the federal government and local law enforcement agencies in very specific circumstances.
The TRUTH Act defines "ICE access" as all of the following:
1. Responding to an ICE hold, notification, or transfer request;
2. Providing ICE with advance notice of detention facility release information that is not otherwise available to the public;
3. Providing ICE with non-public information regarding detention facility release dates, home or work addresses;
4. Permitting ICE to interview an individual; or
5. Providing ICE with probation or parole check-in dates and times.
County Process to Determine Necessity of Community Forum
Since the TRUTH Act definition of "local law enforcement agency" is broad and the definition of "ICE access" is specific, the County Administrator's Office requires each department head within the County to certify the following on an annual basis to determine whether a community forum is required to be held pursuant to the statute:
1. Whether the department was a "local law enforcement agency" as defined by the TRUTH Act; and
2. If the department is a "local law enforcement agency", then did the department provide "ICE access" during the prior calendar year.
On May 27, 2025, the County Administrator sent correspondence to all department heads requesting that each certify the above two questions. A copy of the County Administrator’s letter and Certification Form are included as Attachment A to this report.
The Sheriff's Office reported as having met the statutory definition for providing ICE access in calendar year 2024, which requires the Board of Supervisors to convene a community forum pursuant to Government Code section 7283.1(d). No other County department reported as having provided ICE access in calendar year 2024.
Community Forum Requirements and Request for Information
Once it has been determined that a community forum is necessary, statute provides that local law enforcement agencies participating in the forum, “may provide the governing body with data it maintains regarding the number and demographic characteristics of individuals to whom the agency has provided ICE access, the date ICE access was provided, and whether the ICE access was provided through a hold, transfer, or notification request or through other means. Data may be provided in the form of statistics or, if statistics are not maintained, individual records, provided that personally identifiable information shall be redacted.”
In anticipation of the need to hold a community forum, the Board of Supervisors at its October 22, 2025 meeting, adopted its Calendar Year 2025 meeting schedule, with the TRUTH forum listed for the July 22, 2025 meeting.
In compliance with the 30-days’ notice requirement, on June 21, 2025, the County requested and the Contra Costa Times, a newspaper of general circulation within the County, published formal notice of the forum. In addition to this formal notice, the date and time of the County’s community forum has been circulated in a County media release. A copy of the Proof of Publication issued by the Contra Costa Times and the County’s media release are included as Attachment B to this report.
Public Accessibility
Since 2019, simultaneous Spanish interpretation of TRUTH Act community forum proceedings has been successfully integrated and continues to be available this year.
For today's forum, the County is providing the following enhancements to public accessibility and language access to maximize community involvement and participation during the forum:
1. Written Public Comment:
Allow for written public comments to be submitted and published with agenda materials. This ensures that comments submitted in written format are published for review by all parties participating in today's forum. As of Thursday, July 17, 2025, at 12:00 p.m., no written public comment or question was received related to this item.
2. Simultaneous Interpretation in Spanish:
The County has engaged an interpreting and translation services contractor to provide simultaneous interpretation of today's forum in Spanish. During the forum, a Spanish interpreter is provided to ensure reports and commentary delivered in English will be interpreted in Spanish, which can be accessed via the meeting's Zoom link. The public may also watch the forum on Contra Costa TV channels and turn on SAP. During the public comment period, and upon request of a speaker, the interpreter will be available to provide consecutive interpretation from Spanish to English.
3. Real-time Written Spanish Translation:
Board of Supervisors' meetings provide for closed captioning in English during live broadcast and on video posted on the County website. At today's forum, closed captioning will be provided real-time in Spanish to complement the simultaneous interpretation of the proceedings in Spanish. This will also be available on the video archive of today's forum on the County website. The Clerk of the Board’s Office will also have written Spanish translation in its virtual media platform.
4. Immigration Advocacy:
The County has traditionally allowed for a coordinated presentation by the immigration advocacy community which, in past years, had been presented by senior attorneys from Criminal Justice Reform Program at Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus (ALC) in partnership with the Contra Costa Immigrant Rights Alliance (CCIRA). This year, County staff reached out to CCIRA, and a presentation from the Immigrant Legal Resources Center (ILRC) was submitted. A copy of their English and Spanish presentations are included in this report as Attachments C and D.
5. County Department PowerPoint Presentation:
Copies of the Sheriff's Office PowerPoint presentation both in English (Attachment E) and Spanish (Attachment F) are also included in this report.
Finally, the text of the TRUTH Act is included as Attachment G for reference.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
The TRUTH Act community forum is required to be held by the governing board of a local agency pursuant to Government Code section 7283.1(d) if a local law enforcement agency within that jurisdiction has provided ICE access to an individual. The statute only requires that the community forum be convened and does not require that any action be taken by the local governing board. Should the Board choose not to hold the community forum it must be scheduled for a future date to comply with state law.