A live microphone captured Sacramento's mayor and vice mayor privately discussing whether they could bar protesters from future city council meetings, moments after officials cleared the chambers during a heated debate over the city's ties to a federal intelligence-sharing center.
Mayor Kevin McCarty and Vice Mayor Karina Talamantes thought the cameras had stopped rolling Tuesday when they huddled during a recess at Sacramento City Hall. They were wrong. The city council's publicly available livestream kept running, and Fox News Digital reviewed the footage, capturing a candid exchange about silencing the very residents Sacramento's leaders are elected to serve.
Talamantes opened the private conversation by floating a plan to remove specific people from future meetings. "We should go over this disruptions thing, because if we want to ban somebody in the future, like to take them out, we have to point out specifically..." she said before apparently noticing the microphone was still on and reaching over to switch it off. McCarty replied that the city attorney had already shut the idea down: "I know, but the city attorney said we can't do that."
Talamantes pushed back. "We did it last time," she said, a reference to an unspecified prior incident. McCarty held firm: "We can't." He added that he had spent his first six months in office trying to find a way to put attendees on a kind of "probation" that would keep them away from meetings. The city attorney's office, for its part, declined to comment when Fox News Digital reached out, offering only: "The City Attorney's Office has no comment and will not be providing comment on this matter."
The eruption that preceded the hot-mic moment had been building all evening. The council's agenda included a debate over Sacramento's continued participation in the Central California Intelligence Center, a regional hub that accepts federal funding and shares information with ICE. Dozens of speakers lined up during public comment to urge the council to reject the agreement, arguing that participation conflicted with Sacramento's status as a sanctuary city.
Sacramento Police officials pushed back during the meeting, stating that the city does not share personal identifying information for civil immigration enforcement and complies with SB 54, California's sanctuary law. Vice Mayor Talamantes echoed that defense, framing the funding as a safeguard rather than a threat.
"The city of Sacramento is a sanctuary city. If we don't pass these dollars, other counties will apply for these dollars, they will get those dollars and we will have no safeguards to protect our immigrant communities here in Sacramento."
That argument did not satisfy the crowd. Under the council's rules, members of the public receive two minutes per agenda item and may speak on no more than four items per meeting. But the structured process broke down as emotions ran high.
During public comment, at least one unidentified speaker directed profanity at the mayor: "Kevin, I need your f***ing eyes. Kevin, listen to me. Stop being an a**hole, dude. Listen to your f***ing constituents." After Talamantes defended the CCIC funding, another round of shouting erupted. One attendee called her "a pick-me b****." Others yelled "Shame on you."
McCarty issued a final warning.
"This is the final notice. We're going to continue with the deliberation, and if there's any more outbursts, we're gonna have to ask the audience to leave."
Seconds later, the disruptions intensified. Attendees shouted, "You can't do this behind closed f***ing doors!" and "We are the community" and "You represent us. You are our f***ing audience." Council officials paused the meeting and cleared the chambers entirely.
That is when the hot-mic exchange began.
In a statement to Fox News Digital after the meeting, McCarty cast the captured conversation as nothing more than a review of existing procedures.
"Every Tuesday, Vice Mayor Talamantes and I are responsible for overseeing and ensuring transparent, accessible, and open Council meetings. Unfortunately, when meetings are repeatedly disrupted, we must discuss existing policies and rules to ensure Council meetings remain effective, orderly, and respectful for both the residents in attendance and the Councilmembers. We are committed to ensuring that all members of the public can access and engage safely without distraction or intimidation."
The statement reads as boilerplate. The livestream footage tells a different story. Talamantes was not reviewing existing rules, she was asking how to ban specific people. McCarty's own words on the hot mic confirmed the city attorney had already advised against it, and yet the vice mayor pressed the point. The fact that Talamantes reached over to kill the microphone once she realized it was live suggests she understood the conversation would not play well in public.
Community members who witnessed the meeting were not reassured by McCarty's statement. Joshua Masias, a volunteer organizer with the Sac Immigration Committee, told The Sacramento Bee that Talamantes' conduct stood out. "It's very authoritative how she wants to use her power," Masias said. "It stuck out to me that she was the only one to try to silence the crowd."
Resident Leanna Hunt, described as one of the council's most outspoken critics, defended the protesters' frustration in comments to the same outlet.
"I'm fed up. It's not even a tactic, I'm just tired of being treated like we are an audience and that the king is deigning to see us peasants today and when the peasants are unruly, the king gets upset."
Fox News Digital reported reaching out to the Sacramento Police Department, the Sac Immigration Committee, and Vice Mayor Talamantes' office for additional comment. Whether any of those parties responded is unclear from the available reporting. The city attorney's office stonewalled entirely.
Several key questions remain unanswered. The council was debating Sacramento's participation in the Central California Intelligence Center, but it is unclear whether a vote was ever taken on the agreement, or whether the chamber clearing effectively tabled the matter. The full scope of what information the CCIC shares, and with which federal agencies, has not been publicly detailed. And the prior incident Talamantes referenced, "We did it last time", remains unexplained. Who was banned, and on what authority, if the city attorney's office has consistently advised against it?
Sacramento's public comment rules give residents two minutes per item and cap participation at four items per meeting. Those are tight limits. When residents feel those two minutes are the only leverage they have over elected officials who have already made up their minds, frustration is predictable. That does not excuse profanity or personal attacks directed at council members. But the answer to a rowdy meeting is not a private conversation about how to keep specific people from showing up next time.
Elected officials in a sanctuary city that styles itself as a champion of marginalized communities were caught, on camera, discussing how to exclude the very constituents most affected by the policy on the table. McCarty spent six months trying to find a mechanism to keep people away. The city attorney told him no. Talamantes wanted to try again anyway.
When leaders talk one way in public and another when they think nobody is listening, the microphone is doing the voters a favor.
