The National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association on Wednesday issued a notice of guidance to its membership and to U.S. racetracks claiming that no agents for Immigration and Customs Enforcement or any individual representing ICE should be allowed on the backstretch of a racetrack without an official warrant.
The notice, signed by National HBPA chief executive Eric Hamelback, was issued a little more than 24 hours after ICE agents conducted a raid of Delta Downs in Vinton, La., shutting down exits and entrances to the track while questioning backstretch workers and eventually arresting nearly 100. The notice included highly aggressive language, calling the raid “shocking and disruptive,” along with “concerning and unacceptable.”
“We must urge racetrack management and security staff not to be complicit in allowing unchecked access to the stable areas,” the notice said, calling the backstretch a "non-public, restricted-access agricultural workplace” requiring judicial warrants. “To do so could potentially violate the constitutional rights of workers and other individuals present, expose the racetrack and its operators to liability, and compromise the care and welfare of the horses in their charge.”
Hamelback could not be reached for comment early on Wednesday. In a text message in response to a phone call, Hamelback said that he was in Washington D.C. for meetings.
The raid at Delta Downs sent shockwaves through the racing community due to the industry's reliance on immigrant labor for jobs such as hotwalkers and grooms. In addition, the raid came after President Donald Trump late last week seemed to walk back some of ICE’s priorities for workplace raids, to make exceptions for the hospitality, agriculture, and restaurant industries.
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The pushback by the National HBPA against the policies is also notable considering most horsemen’s groups have aligned themselves with conservative legislators, and many individual trainers are known to be highly supportive of Trump.
During his 2017-2021 first term, Trump used aggressive language against immigration, but his administration rarely conducted workplace raids. In addition, the Department of Homeland Security regularly increased the number of H-2A and H-2B visas available for use by the agriculture and racing industries.
The notice issued by the National HBPA said that racetrack security and management “must not grant ICE agents entry based solely on request or agency credentials,” instead requiring a “search or arrest warrant, signed by an Article III judge or magistrate.”
“This is well-established under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which protects against unlawful searches and seizures without proper judicial authorization,” the notice said.
In a statement released Wednesday morning, ICE said that they arrested “approximately 84 illegal aliens” during the Tuesday raid, which occurred on a dark day during the track’s Quarter Horse meet. The statement said that “all of the aliens taken into custody” were transported to the Lake Charles Border Patrol Station in Lake Charles, La,. for deportation proceedings.
Two of the people arrested had criminal records, according to the statement.
Delta Downs is located in Vinton, La., in the district represented by House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican who has been strongly supportive of the Trump administration.
The statement said that the raid was based on “intelligence indicating the businesses operating out of the stables at the racetrack were employing unauthorized workers.”
In recent weeks, the National HBPA and federal racing lobbyists have begun working with the American Business Immigration Coalition as the scope of the administration’s policies on workplace raids expanded rapidly.
The coalition, a lobbying group representing industries that rely on immigrant labor, had begun making inroads with Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on a reprieve for their industries, but reporting early this week in national newspapers has indicated that White House architects of the deportation policy have pushed back against granting any industry a pass.
Many trainers use the H-2B visa program for many of their immigrant workers, but the program has strict requirements and adhering to the policies is costly. Horsemen’s organizations have also said that they are unable to find U.S. workers willing to take backstretch jobs, a contention pushed during a press conference organized by the American Business Immigration Coalition on Tuesday.
“With an unemployment rate of 4 percent, you’re not going to find American workers for a lot of these tasks,” said Rep. Andy Harris, a Republican from Maryland, during the press conference. “You haven’t found them even when the unemployment rate was higher. And again, to get the economic boost that the president talked about, I think it’s a great sign the administration finally realized there is a need for foreign workers.”
Given the large presence of immigrant workers on U.S. backstretches, wide-ranging raids could have a crippling impact on the entire racing industry, especially among the smaller tracks that often do not draw as much regulatory oversight as more high-profile tracks. In addition, horse farm communities in Kentucky, Florida, and other states have been put on edge by the raids.
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association, an industry-funded lobbying group representing a wide constituency of Thoroughbred interests, said in a letter distributed to its members on Wednesday that Trump’s social-media comments last week about sparing some industries from workplace raids “were viewed by many as a hopeful sign that state-licensed and regulated facilities like racetracks would not be targets of immigration enforcement.”
However, the raid at Delta Downs has tempered that view, said the letter, which was obtained by Daily Racing Form.
“We are redoubling our efforts to communicate to the administration and legislative leaders the importance of our work force to local economies supported by our farms, breeding operations, and related agribusinesses,” the letter said.
Tom Rooney, the president of the NTRA and a former five-term member of the House of Representatives as a Republican, said during a telephone call Wednesday that he was seeking to have discussions with policymakers to determine the administration’s course of action.
“Hopefully, we can get a sense of the game plan here,” Rooney said. “We don’t know what we’re looking at. We don’t want our people to be unprepared when they are just trying to go about their business.”
Rooney said that several NTRA racetrack members have told him that ICE agents have recently shown up at tracks looking for specific people, and those tracks have complied. But the Delta raid was altogether different.
“What I understand to have happened is that they said they were looking for specific people and then it turned into a dragnet,” Rooney said.
Hamelback had said Tuesday that the raid caused distress among horses at the track, and the notice asked HBPA members to alert the national organization if ICE showed up without a formal warrant.
“Your strict adherence to this policy is essential to protect the rights of our backside workers, the integrity of our operations, and the welfare of the horses under our care,” the notice said.
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