Second TRUTH Act forum set for Tuesday evening in Napa
The Board of Supervisors will hear the county's annual report on ICE access to people in custody, with remote participation and Spanish interpretation.
NAPA: The Napa County Board of Supervisors will hold its second TRUTH Act community forum of the month on Tuesday, Sept. 29 at 6 p.m., an evening session meant to give working residents a chance to attend.
The first forum was held Sept. 15 at 9 a.m. Both sessions take place in the Board Chambers at 1195 Third Street in Napa, and the public may participate in person or remotely, with Spanish interpretation available in person and online, according to the county's announcement.
At each forum, the Napa County Department of Corrections presents its annual report on access provided to individuals in county custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE. Community members may ask questions and offer comments to the board.
The forums are required under California's Transparent Review of Unjust Transfers and Holds Act, known as the TRUTH Act, when a local law enforcement agency has provided ICE access to an individual in its custody during the previous year.
The law's premise is straightforward: when local jails interact with federal immigration authorities, the public should be able to see what happened. The annual report is the mechanism, and the forum is where the community gets to question it. The format is deliberately open. After the Corrections presentation, the floor belongs to residents, who may ask questions and offer comments directly to the board.
The county scheduled the two sessions at different times of day specifically to make it easier for community members with varying schedules to attend and participate.
Anyone who cannot attend in person can join remotely. Meeting materials and instructions for participating online are posted on the county's legislative calendar at napa.legistar.com, and Spanish interpretation is available both in the room and on the remote feed.
Residents planning to attend can review the annual report materials on Legistar before the session, so their questions can be specific. The report is the factual basis for the whole evening: what access was provided, to whom and under what circumstances. Everything else, the questions, the comments and the board's response, follows from it.
For residents who want to understand how immigration enforcement touches Napa County's own facilities, Tuesday evening is the remaining chance this year to hear the report and be heard in return.
The county scheduled two different times to fit varying schedules, and the 6 p.m. session on Sept. 29 is the last one on the calendar.
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