Trump immigration policy spurs ire at Kentucky Derby: 'We can't find workers' [View all]
Source: Guardian News
Horse owners and trainers have voiced fury amid a reported shortage of workers, as immigrants fear deportation and activists take a stand
Mike Elk in Louisville, Kentucky
Saturday 6 May 2017 07.00 EDT
A dark cloud has been hanging over the Kentucky Derby this weekend as horse trainers have made public their anger at Trump’s immigration policies, which they say are hurting the Kentucky Derby, the US’s most glamorous horse racing event.
“We can’t find workers this year – it’s been tough,” says Julio Rubio of the Kentucky Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. “Most of the workers we have at the track won’t even leave to go out at night to buy groceries because they are so scared of being deported.”
The horse racing industry is big business in Kentucky. It brings more than $4bn a year to the state. The owners of horses at Churchill Downs racetrack are among the country’s economic elite; derby winners can bring in purses that easily exceed $1m.
But the race, and the work of the wider industry, rest largely on the backs of an immigrant workforce making on average $400-$600 a week as well as free lodging in a huge dormitory inside the Churchill Downs complex. The skilled work typically requires a regular crew of guest workers, who live in Mexico in the offseason. However, as a result of Trump’s immigration crackdown, many horse workers were unable to make the trek to Churchill Downs this year.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/06/kentucky-derby-workers-trump-immigration-deportation
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