Mayor Venker relays mayors’ concerns about immigration enforcement and data centers from national conference

Mayor Venker used the Feb. 2 council meeting to summarize key themes from the U.S. Conference of Mayors, telling the council that two topics drew the most attention: cities’ response to data centers and AI infrastructure, and concern about immigration enforcement activity in communities.

The mayor said many mayors are balancing economic attraction of data center investment with worries about local impacts such as water and energy demand. He also recounted dramatic testimony about ICE operations in other cities and said the conference circulated a statement; he told the council the city had been invited to join legal efforts, including potential amicus briefs, challenging federal actions that local officials say strain municipal capacity.

"We have no present information that ICE is coming to Palo Alto," the mayor said, "but if the fight is brought to us, I think we're now on notice that we need to have some need to be ready to some degree." He added staff is preparing guidance for city employees on lawful responses to federal enforcement activity.

Vice mayor Stone and several other council members expressed appreciation for the mayor reporting back and urged staff to communicate clearly with the public to address fear and uncertainty. Councilmember Lythcott Haines said she would support meeting in closed session to consider whether to file an amicus brief, noting deadlines reported by the conference may require prompt council attention.

The mayor also cited broad conference discussion of AI and the municipal challenge of hosting energy‑ and water‑intensive data center infrastructure and said council and staff should remain engaged as those dynamics evolve.