Delta Downs continues racing after ICE raid by sharing resources

The show must go on.

That was the attitude taken by Louisiana horsemen and management following a raid on Tuesday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at Delta Downs racetrack, which resulted in the detention of "approximately 84" individuals working at the facility.

Despite the absence of so many backstretch workers, horsemen at the track in Vinton rallied to race on Wednesday as scheduled. They did it by pooling resources, such as having grooms take horses from other barns to the track, according to Ed Fenasci, executive director of the Louisiana Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association.

"That’s what they’re trying to do," said Fenasci, who was not at the track and relied on reports from contacts who were. "They’re trying to pull through this and continue racing."

Asked if any of the workers detained by ICE had been released, Fenasci replied, "Not to my knowledge."

The Delta Downs racing office referred a reporter's call to Boyd Gaming, which owns the track.

Boyd Gaming spokesman David Strow declined to comment on the situation at Delta Downs, which has races carded for Thursday or Friday. 

Fenasci said his contacts at Delta Downs have been operating in the dark, with no information on the fate of the detained workers or discussion of how to continue to operate and care for horses at the track going forward. 

"It's very frustrating to get information on what's going on," Fenasci said. "We're not being told anything and I don't think track management has been told anything either."

Bret Brinkman, a Louisiana Thoroughbred trainer who was not at the track when the agents raided the track in the midst of a quarter horse meet, said he considered the situation dire.

"It’s a really bad deal, he told HRN. "If it happens across the nation, it’ll kill the industry."

Brinkman said that many of the backstretch workers in Louisiana have attempted to get documents that would allow them to remain in the country as skilled workers, but spent years trying to negotiate the immigration system with no results. Some of them have also been taken advantage of by crooked lawyers who took their money but did not perform the necessary work, he said.

"It’s a laundry list of problems in the system," he said. "… It’s not people trying to hire illegals."

Brinkman said many people don't realize how much skill is required to care for racehorses, making it hard to replace the detained workers.

"People don’t recognize that it’s a skilled labor job," he said. "Anybody who hasn’t done it can’t imagine how much skill it takes."