To: Board of Supervisors
From: Monica Nino, County Administrator
Report Title: 2024 TRUTH Act Community Forum
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. 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 Asian Law Caucus (Eileen Kim, Staff Attorney);
c. RECEIVE report from the Sheriff-Coroner (Hon. David O. Livingston, Sheriff-Coroner); and
d. OPEN Public Comment.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact.
BACKGROUND:
In 2016, Governor Brown signed into law the Transparent Review of Unjust Transfers and Holds Act, commonly referred to as the “TRUTH Act.” Beginning in 2018, the TRUTH Act required the governing body of any county, city, or county and city, such as Contra Costa County, to hold a community forum if a "local law enforcement agency" operated by the governmental entity provided the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency “access” to individuals for civil immigration enforcement purposes during the prior calendar year. (Government Code section 7283.1(d))
The TRUTH Act defines a "local law enforcement agency" in a broader context than other areas of statute. Specifically, the Act defines a “local law enforcement agency”, as a department that:
1. enforces criminal laws, regulations, or local ordinances;
2. operates a jail or juvenile detention facility;
3. maintains custody of individuals in a jail or in a juvenile detention facility; or
4. monitors compliance with probation or parole conditions.
In addition, the term "ICE access" is defined by the TRUTH Act as any 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
The County has held annual TRUTH Act community forums since July 2018. Since the definition of "local law enforcement agency" described above is broad and the definition of "ICE access" is so 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 20, 2024, 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 2023, 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 2023.
As a reminder, 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.
Community Forum Requirements and Request for Information
Once it has been determined that a community forum is necessary, statute provides that the community forum be scheduled with thirty-days advance notice to the public and that local law enforcement agencies participating in the forum may provide the local governing board certain information. Specifically, participating agencies may provide the number and demographic characteristics of individuals whose information was disclosed to ICE through a hold, transfer, or notification request or through other means. Further, the data may be provided in the form of statistics or, if such statistics are not maintained, individual records, provided that personally identifiable information is redacted.
Consistent with prior years, on June 22, 2024, the Contra Costa Times, a newspaper of general circulation within the County, published formal notice of the forum in compliance with the thirty-day public notice requirement. A copy of the Proof of Publication issued by the Contra Costa Times is included as Attachment B to this report.
In addition to this formal notice, the date and time of the County's community forum has been circulated in a County media release and fliers in both English and Spanish were distributed via email to community partner contacts. In addition, information regarding the forum has been listed on the front page of the County website.
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 comment 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. To maintain compliance with the Better Government Ordinance, only those written comments received as of Thursday, July 18, 2024, at 12:00 PM were to be included as attachments. No written public comment 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, two interpreters will ensure that 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 public comment, the interpreters will be available to provide consecutive interpretation from Spanish to English.
For reference, the American Translators Association defines each type of interpretation referred to above as the following:
Simultaneous Interpretation: Simultaneous interpreting requires the interpreter to listen and comprehend in one language (source) while "simultaneously" providing an interpretation in a second language.
Consecutive Interpretation: Consecutive interpreting requires the interpreter to hear several complete sentences in one language (source) before the speaker stops to allow the interpreter to provide an interpretation in a second language.
3. Consecutive Interpretation for Public Comment (upon request):
In addition to providing simultaneous interpretation in Spanish via Zoom, the County has offered to provide consecutive interpretation in other languages, upon request, for delivery of public comment to the Board of Supervisors. This language accommodation was announced through outreach previously outlined. Due to the logistics involved with securing a professional interpreter for an unknown set of languages, the County requested notice from members of the public by Tuesday, July 16, 2024. As of Thursday, July 18, 2024 at 12:00 PM, the County had not received a request for additional language accommodation. For these reasons, only interpretation in Spanish will be provided during public comment at today's forum, as described in paragraph 2. above.
4. Closed Captioning in Spanish:
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.
5. 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 ALC, and a copy of their English and Spanish bilingual TRUTH Act forum presentations are included in this report as Attachments C and D.
6. County Department PowerPoint Presentation:
The Sheriff's Office, having met the statutory definition for providing ICE access in calendar year 2023, requires the Board of Supervisors to convene this community forum pursuant to Government Code section 7283.1(d). Copies of the Sheriff's Office PowerPoint presentation both in English (Attachment E) and Spanish (Attachment F) are 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.