LOUISVILLE, KY– Two months ago, trainer Dale Romans and California Horse Racing Board vice chairman Oscar Gonzales traveled to Washington, D.C. with the American Business Immigration Coalition (ABIC) to join more than 150 business leaders in a push for bipartisan immigration reform. On Thursday, May 1 after training hours concluded at Churchill Downs, the pair participated in a media briefing to share their insights from the trip and explain why the group believes that now is the time to reform U.S. laws and regulations affecting legal immigrant workers.
Around 20 media outlets from both within the industry and beyond attended the briefing, which was hosted by the ABIC and the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association.
Gonzales, who served as senior advisor on immigration to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack for 10 years at the U.S. Department of Agriculture prior to joining the CHRB, said that he has witnessed the highs and lows of the immigration conversation.
“I think we're at a critical point now with market access challenges, labor shortages and with prices getting higher,” he explained. “We think that the American public is ready for a conversation.”
Gonzales said ABIC's March campaign to 121 congressional offices was just the start of a broader push for immigration reform—one that will require active involvement from leaders within the racing industry, which relies on immigrants for roughly 78% of its workforce.
“We laid out the conversation about the economic impact that the equine industry has on the country and in urban areas like [Louisville],” he said. “What you can be expecting in the next couple months is really just engaging horse racing people in particular– going to racetracks, letting their members of congress and governors know about the importance of them being at the table. This will also involve getting sign-on letters and additional trips to Washington.”
In an article from the TDN's Dan Ross earlier this week, Ross discussed how President Donald Trump broached the topic of reform at an April 10 cabinet meeting.
“At that gathering, Trump intimated of a new program to help farm, hotel and other workers leave the country and then return legally with the support of their U.S. employer,” Ross penned. “While Trump's wording at the meeting was vague, the pathways available to bring such concepts to life appear largely two-fold: Through executive order or through legislation.”
In Thursday's meeting, Dale Romans, who is also the President of the Kentucky HBPA, offered his opinion on the most effective methods for enacting change.
“Everything starts with the White House,” Romans said. “If [Trump] came up with an amnesty program, we just want to be in on the conversation when he decides to do something. I think he's a businessman at the end of the day and that's a positive for us. I don't think there's as much of a concern about the welfare of Central and South Americans, but I think he understands business and the business cannot operate in this country without a labor force.”
The racing industry currently relies on the H-2B visa program to meet its demand for backstretch workers, but the system has shortcomings. Visas are capped annually and typically last only 10 months, though they can be extended for up to three years.
“It's a cumbersome system,” said Romans. “It has to find people in Central and South America that want to come here and work on a visa and then you have to get visas allotted to you every year, so you don't know for sure if you're going to get them in the next year and then you only get them for 10 months once they get here. There has to be a simpler system.”
He continued, “In a perfect world, I would love to see the government almost running a temp service where someone in Central or South America applies to the temp service, then I call them and say I need 20 workers to come work on the backside and they come to me. It would turn the system upside down. Right now, it's difficult to stay legal and it's hard to plan for the future. Every 10 months you're reapplying for new visas and there is no guarantee you're going to get them. There's a cap on them but there is not a cap on need.”
President Trump's recent comments on immigration reform suggest a potential broadening of the administration's approach, which has so far emphasized strong border enforcement. While the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) apparently has not yet set its sights on racing, reports from other industries have created uncertainty within the backside community.
Dale Romans | Lauren King
“I've worked with immigrant workers my whole life and I've never seen people under the stress they've gone through the last six months,” said Romans. “Everybody is worried. I've never had so many people come to me asking questions.”
Romans said that earlier this spring when his stable was relocating from Florida to Kentucky, members of his staff traveling with the horses expressed concerns about stopping at state agricultural inspection stations.
“They asked, 'Are we going to be swept away when we cross the border? Is there going to be ICE sitting there waiting?'” shared Romans. “These are legal people that have work visas but have concerns. It's a very important issue.”
Romans said he is optimistic about seeing change under the current administration.
“Trump is saying all the right things,” he noted. “He wants to separate the good from the bad. He understands the workforce issue we have in this country. We're at 4% unemployment. These are people that pay their taxes. They'll never see the benefit of social security, but they're paying into it every year. We might as well make it legal. We can't operate without them.”
Also during Thursday's meeting, National HBPA CEO Eric Hamelback and ABIC CEO Rebecca Shi offered their insight on the need for immigration reform. Joe Stave of Monterey Mushrooms, one of America's largest mushroom producers, shared how his company relies on the soiled straw from racetracks for compost to grow their product and discussed how his industry relies on the same labor force as the equine industry.
Will Velie, an immigration attorney specializing in the racing industry, pointed out how future reform could take a shape similar to the 2022 Affordable and Secure Food Act.”
“[The bill] came six votes short and lost in the filibuster, but it said if you worked in agriculture for a previous period of time and you agreed to work in agriculture for a number of years after that, you would become legal and have a pathway to a long-term, permanent presence,” Velie explained. “I think right now with the border being secure, this is a bipartisan issue and I think we have the space where we can get something done to take care of the people who take care of us.”
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