Race Track’s Illegal Alien Worker Problem Eased; New Woes Loom

In the dusty, insular world known as the backstretch, a place where millionaires mingle with stable boys and horses are treated like princes while workmen live in crude dormitories, they’re still talking about the infamous immigration raids of two years ago.

“It was like a war back here,” said Melvin Stute, a well-known trainer at Del Mar. “It was something I thought I’d never see in America.”

“It was the dumbest thing I ever saw,” a farrier said. “Someone could have gotten killed.”

“It was extremely interruptive,” said the more diplomatic Joseph Harper, general manager of the race track.

Today, as Del Mar winds toward the close of what appears to be a very successful 48th racing season, tensions are much reduced. That is so despite passage of the landmark new immigration law, which raises the stakes for trainers by subjecting them to civil and criminal penalties--and potential jail terms--for continuing what had been a traditional practice: hiring undocumented workers for backstretch jobs.

“There’s been a 180-degree turnaround in attitude” since the raids, Harper said.

Fear of Raids Subsides

In the backstretch, the confusing array of stables, living quarters and offices where a race track’s pulse beats in the early-morning hours, the once-pervasive fear of the green immigration vans appears to have abated. Nowadays, U.S. immigration authorities and track officials talk in conciliatory tones about “mutual cooperation” and stress their helpful meetings. Both sides agree that a novel use of a U.S. government visa plan and an effort to step up the hiring of legal U.S. residents have combined to submerge the thorny issue of undocumented workers--at least temporarily.

“We’ve felt a very cooperative spirit out there,” said William Veal, deputy chief in San Diego for the U.S. Border Patrol, which conducted the controversial raids.

There is no question that problems remain--problems that may result in a shortage of experienced workers in coming years, horsemen say. And because backstretch workers travel from track to track, almost akin to a circus troupe, the difficulties facing the elegant Del Mar facility are identical to those of other Southern California tracks, such as Santa Anita and Hollywood Park, that are on the same circuit. In fact, race tracks throughout the state have long hired undocumented labor, as have many tracks in other states such as New Mexico and Louisiana.

“There are still issues to be resolved,” said Robert A. McAnally, secretary-treasurer in California for the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Assn., a trade group.

Horsemen say they remain reliant on foreign labor--Americans just aren’t interested in the relatively low-paying, but demanding backstretch positions such as hot-walker or groom, they maintain. Although the arrests prodded Southern California horsemen into starting a training school for legal residents, many trainers remain clearly unconvinced that school-trained grooms and hot-walkers will be joining the work force in significant numbers any time soon. The most common language of the stable workers is Spanish.

Not in the Curriculum

“You can’t learn horses in a school,” scoffed Hector Magana, a Mexican-born stable foreman and legal U.S. resident, standing on the hay-strewn floors amid the stalls of more than 40 horses as he explained that the animals are high-strung and difficult to handle. “You’ve got to be with horses to know them. I’ve been with horses practically all my life,” said Magana, 32.

Although officials say the raids have resulted in the presence of more American workers in the backstretch, trainers also tell tales of U.S. employees leaving after their first paycheck--and their first real taste of stable work. Apart from the low pay and long, arduous hours, track insiders say, many U.S. residents are hesitant to adapt to the migratory life of the track. To poor foreigners, mostly from Mexico, the alternative job possibilities are often no more attractive. Even with the traditional pool of undocumented labor, turnover is high on the backstretch.

“It would certainly take a long time to change the work force up to one-hundred percent American,” said McAnally.

Moreover, there is no guarantee that the temporary visa initiative that has allowed many horsemen to continue hiring much foreign help will continue to be successful. The so-called H-2 visa program--sometimes referred to as a “guest-worker” program--generally can only be extended for up to 33 months for each worker, noted McAnally of the horsemen’s group. In order to bring in an H-2 worker, employers must demonstrate a shortage of legal U.S. residents for the specific job.

Beginning last year, according to the horsemen’s association, 487 backstretch workers on the Southern California circuit received H-2 visas and the accompanying authorizations to work in the United States. If those workers cannot receive some kind of permanent legal status, McAnally conceded, there could be trouble in coming seasons.

“This (the H-2 program) has only been a stopgap solution,” McAnally said.

Shortage in North, Too

In Northern California tracks such as Bay Meadows and Golden Gate Fields, officials also turned to the H-2 program--and are now worried about the future. “Down the line, we’re facing a shortage of experienced workers,” said Charles Dougherty, a Northern California representative for the horsemen’s group.

A core problem is the fact that the H-2 program is designed for seasonal workers--such as farm laborers--while, in areas such as Southern California, the race track circuit has become year-round. “The backstretch worker isn’t just doing a six-month job anymore,” said Jay Hickey, a counsel with the American Horse Council, a trade group in Washington. “It’s become a 12-month job.”

Despite the limitations of the H-2 program in horse racing, immigration officials express the hope that Western growers will take a lesson from the race tracks and begin to take advantage of guest-worker provisions and cease hiring undocumented workers. In fact, the new immigration bill created a streamlined program designed to spur grower interest--but thus far it hasn’t been widely used.

“I wish the growers would be as willing to try the guest worker program as the racing industry,” said Harold Ezell, western regional commissioner for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Because of the use of the visa program and an influx of legal workers, it appears that there are comparatively few undocumented laborers at Del Mar this season. Trainers say they are complying with the new immigration law, which prohibits the hiring of undocumented workers.

“We had six officers at Del Mar yesterday . . . and we didn’t come up with a single illegal alien,” Veal of the Border Patrol said Friday.

Jockey Apprehended

Indeed, as of Friday the patrol had only apprehended five people at the track this season--but one was rather high-profile. Last month, officials arrested Antonio Castanon, a well-regarded Mexican jockey. On the day he was apprehended, officials said, Castanon had three winners.

Two years ago, the scene was much different.

During the 1985 season, the U.S. Border Patrol conducted a series of highly publicized raids at Del Mar and other California tracks, arresting scores of undocumented workers and scattering hundreds more. The raids shattered the time-honored routine of the backstretch and enraged horsemen, forcing trainers to work without sufficient numbers of experienced grooms and other employees. When Border Patrol vehicles arrived, workers scrambled over the fences and dived under the hay, like victims hiding from an invading army.

“If a couple of Border Patrol officers went by, you’d see people scattering in every direction,” recalled Noble W. Threewitt, a trainer and president of the horsemen’s group at the track.

Insiders still recount with amazement how Bill Shoemaker, the legendary and much-revered jockey, had to cut short an early-morning practice run on a multimillion-dollar thoroughbred because a Border Patrol car had wandered onto the track at Del Mar.

“The way they did it just didn’t make any sense,” said Buzz Fermin, a horseshoer at the track.

Alarmed horsemen warned that the very structure of the racing industry in Southern California was threatened. Finally, a day after the Border Patrol arrested 123 workers, Del Mar officials took the drastic step of canceling an entire day’s racing card--resulting in losses of hundreds of thousands of dollars for the track, the horse owners and trainers and the State of California, which receives a percentage of the daily handle.

Now that the hard feelings have abated, some can look upon the experience with the cooler measure of distance.

“It was a major distraction,” Harper, the track general manager, said of the raids, “but I’m not sure it would have been resolved any other way. The horsemen and the Border Patrol got together because of it and we’ve had smooth sailing since . . . Sometimes things just have to come to a head.”