Racing in Eye of Immigration Reform in Washington

With potentially huge implications for horse racing, lawmakers are seeking an amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act that would streamline the visa process and afford undocumented agricultural workers, including those in equine industries, a pathway to earn legal status.

“This is the most significant immigration reform since the Bill Clinton amnesty in 2001,” said Will Velie, an immigration attorney with many clients in the racing industry, about the Affordable and Secure Food Act, introduced Thursday by Senator Michael Bennet, D-Colo.

“The fact that more than a million people will be able to become legal that have been here contributing to the economy for years and years is a very significant step forward in helping the people that are vital to the economy and get a place at the table,” Velie said, adding that the bill would help “tens of thousands” of workers across the nation's backstretches and horse farms.

Traditionally, equine workers have not been categorized as agricultural employees. But the Affordable and Secure Food Act includes workers “performing activities related to equines, including the breeding, grooming, training, care, feeding, management, competition, and racing of equines.”

Key provisions of the bill include:

A pathway to a green card after 10 years of work for farm and equine workers in the program.

Reforms to the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Worker program by providing H-2A visas for year-round jobs for the first time, along with modernization of the application process.

The phasing in of a mandatory nationwide electronic verification system–otherwise known as E-Verify–for all agricultural workers.

“The shortage of skilled farm labor has dramatically increased the cost of food, squeezing family budgets and forcing them to make impossible choices between food, groceries, medicine, and housing,” wrote Bennet, in a recent press release.

“This plan is broadly supported by farmers, by labor, by immigration advocates, and business. There is no reason that we shouldn't get this done. If Congress can't get this done, it would not only be a massive missed opportunity, but a dereliction of our duty to the American people, to the rural economy in this country, and to agriculture,” Bennett added.

Lawmakers hope to tag the amendment to the full year-end omnibus spending bill, voting on which will begin Monday. The current Congress has until Friday to pass a full omnibus spending bill to fund the government into the future.

A temporary spending bill was passed Friday to fund the government until Dec. 23.

“Industry stakeholders should reach out to their senators and their congressional representatives and let them know how important this is to the stability of the industry and the well-being of their businesses,” said Velie. “It's also the right thing to do for people that work hard to feed the United States.”

There have been many stalled attempts at immigration reform over the years, with horse racing often on the margins of these conversations. According to Velie, the pandemic has “changed the conversation in Washington” about undocumented farm workers, said Velie.

“We've come to realize that the people out there who work hard every day to make sure that Americans are fed should be recognized as essential and given the recognition and respect of legal status,” he said.

Supporters of the bill include influential agricultural organizations like the International Fresh Produce Association, AmericanHort, Western Growers, National Potato Council, U.S. Apple Association, United Farm Workers, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union and Voces Unidas de las Montanas.