Two California politicians want to silence the public and have ideas on how to do it since it has worked in the past. In an accidental hot-mic moment, Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty and Vice Mayor Karina Talamantes were heard speaking about how to quiet angry anti-ICE citizens raising Cain during their city council meeting on Tuesday.
The Mayor and Vice Mayor were shaken by the cursing and threats, and were caught on a hot mic.
As people filed back in, Talamantes approached McCarty and had the following conversation: “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…”
“I know, but the City Attorney said we can’t do that,” McCarty replied.
Talamantes says something unintelligible, followed by “we did it last time.”
“I spent my first six months going over this. I wanted to give people, like, probation, like you can’t come…” McCarty said before Talamantes lunged to turn the mic off.
The exchange came after the audience protested an agreement between the city and the Central California Intelligence Center, a federally funded hub that shares information with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The agreement doesn’t affect their absurd sanctuary policy, and no personal data will be shared.
A few anti-ICE people rose up. Resident Leanna Hunt said she was the likely target of the hot mic conversation. She routinely shouts and curses out McCarty, according to The Sacramento Bee.
“You don’t deserve a f—— thing that you get, you Goddamn criminal,” she shouted at McCarty as he left the dais amid a musical disruption at a council meeting June 9.
“McCarty I’m f—— talking to you. Kevin! Shame on you, you f—— criminal.” She said that her repeated outbursts, which come after years of trying “the peaceful way,” are less of a political strategy and more a result of exasperation.
“I’m fed up,” she said. “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.”
Joshua Masias, a volunteer organizer with the Sacramento Immigration Committee, was also particularly outspoken at Tuesday’s meeting and suspected that he may have been another focal point of the conversation between McCarty and Talamantes. “It’s very authoritative how she [Vice Mayor] wants to use her power,” Masias said. “It stuck out to me that she was the only one to try to silence the crowd.”
NY Post
“You’re a pick-me bitch,” one audience member screamed after Talamantes spoke. “Shame on you. Shame on you,” others shouted.
Talamantes and her family get threats.
“My goal is to ensure everyone gets the opportunity to address the mayor and council in a productive way,” Talamantes said, before condemning threats against her and her family.
“Threatening members of the community and elected official’s family members is unacceptable in the democracy we are fighting for,” she added.
McCarty said the discussion of “existing policies and rules” happened because of the disruptions.
“Following repeated audience disruptions that interfered with the council’s ability to conduct its business, Vice Mayor Talamantes and I discussed existing policies and rules to ensure Council meetings remain effective, orderly, and respectful for both the residents in attendance and the Councilmembers,” he wrote.
The public cleared the room and was let back in after the council completed the vote (approving the agreement 5-2).
Opinion: Finding workarounds to silence troublemakers is a slippery slope. However, people should act civilized when expressing themselves publicly. There is only so much abuse and death threats elected officials should have to take. Agitators often do it to rile up their targets and then use their responses against them.
Maybe rules about decorum and consequences should be allowed?
Sacramento Mayor caught on a Hot Mic discussing BANNING residents who voice concerns from City Council meetings
But the Democrat Party is the ‘No Kings’ party..
"We should go over this disruptions thing because if we want to ban somebody in the future — actually take them out —… pic.twitter.com/qhyBlaB9qU
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) July 24, 2026
