As the Kentucky Derby approaches next month, the Trump Administration's toughened enforcement is rattling horse trainers and their workers, an industry that quietly depends on an immigrant workforce.
From the Wall Street Journal:
Kentucky is Trump country, with more than 62% of voters in the state siding with the Republican candidate. His message of toughened immigration enforcement, for both security and economic reasons, resonated here. But Kentucky is also horse country, and many in the state's most glamorous business say the president's immigration crackdown is causing a pinch. Trainers say they depend on a steady supply of foreign labor, primarily from Latin America and Mexico, to do jobs Americans won't. At Churchill Downs, backstretch workers are part of an ecosystem that for decades has operated on a “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy. No one at the track could recall a raid or any other enforcement action related to immigration on the grounds themselves, but all agreed the threat is increasingly acute as they prepare for the sport's marquee race.
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