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Resident alleges sheriff handed a person to ICE; union urges council to favor union contractor for tree maintenance
Summary
A resident urged the council to provide local notice when sheriff’s transfers to federal immigration authorities occur; a Laborers Local 300 representative urged approval of a West Coast Arborists cooperative contract to support union jobs and certified arborists. A congressional candidate’s campaign‑style remarks were curtailed by the city attorney.
During the public-comment period, a Pico Rivera resident and volunteer, John Gonzalez, told the council he had identified a June 19 incident in which a man was transferred from local sheriff custody to federal immigration authorities at a county facility near Pico Rivera. Gonzalez urged the council to create a local system to notify volunteers and families so relatives can locate and assist those transferred and raised concerns about conditions inside detention centers.
Gonzalez said volunteers were able to locate the individual and connect family members, but asked the council to consider a local notification mechanism to speed family contact in future cases. The meeting record contains no immediate response from the sheriff’s office or a city official that verified the specific transfer Gonzalez described; the statement remained an unresolved allegation in the meeting transcript.
Isaiah Robles, identifying himself as sergeant‑at‑arms for Laborers Local 300, urged the council to approve an annual tree-maintenance cooperative contract with West Coast Arborists, asserting that the contractor is a long‑standing union signatory that will use certified arborists and local union labor. Robles said approving the cooperative contract would support middle‑class wages and safe, professional tree maintenance in the city.
During the public-comment period Dr. Pedro Antonio Casas, who identified himself as a candidate for the 38th Congressional District, began remarks that the mayor and city attorney characterized as political campaigning outside the forum’s local‑issue scope. The city attorney advised that the public comment forum is to address city matters and suggested the speaker restrict remarks to Pico Rivera‑related topics; the candidate then yielded.
The council did not make immediate policy changes in response to Gonzalez’s allegation; councilmembers later requested a public‑safety presentation covering tools such as ShotSpotter and asked staff to return with procurement‑process details (including piggyback contracts) in response to members’ questions about cooperative purchasing and recent contract approvals.
What remains: the transfer allegation raised by a resident requires confirmation or response from law‑enforcement agencies; staff agreed to present public‑safety data and a procurement‑process presentation at a future meeting.
