Preparing an Unannounced Visit from Federal Law Enforcement
WORDS: PETER J. SACOPULOS
Introduction
Since the first of this year, many in the Thoroughbred industry have been concerned with the unannounced appearance of Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) officials at their farm, barn, and/or training facilities. Initially, there was an unofficial understanding that the current immigration policy would not focus on agriculture and related industries, including the Thoroughbred industry. That position changed on June 16, 2025, when the Department of Homeland Security altered its position regarding certain facilities, including farms and tracks.
A change in position: ICE raid at Delta Downs
Tuesday, June 17, 2025, began as a normal day at Delta Downs racetrack in Vinton, Louisiana. The track was conducting a quarter horse meet. Without notice or warning, United States ICE agents executed a raid. Roadways providing ingress and egress for the track were shut down, drones fitted with video surveillance cameras circled overhead, and ICE agents appeared on the backside to search for undocumented workers.
Approximately one hundred (100) persons were detained with zip ties and lined up outside the track kitchen. One of those detained was a rider that was instructed, by federal agents, to dismount. The horse was left unattended. Other horses were left in cross ties and walking wheels. In the end, the ICE raid at Delta Downs resulted in 84 arrests.
Because of this change in policy, it is important for those in the Thoroughbred industry, including trainers, owners, and veterinarians, who serve as employers and who have employees, to be prepared in the event that ICE officials visit their barn, farm, or training facility.
The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution: Search and Seizure
The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution addresses individual's rights and protections against unreasonable search and seizures. It states:
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probably cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
The Fourth Amendment, that is part of the United States Bill of Rights, requires federal agents to have a valid warrant and/ or subpoena. A warrant requires probable cause and must be supported by testimony presented before a judge. A valid warrant allows a specified area to be searched and must identify the persons and/or things to be seized. A subpoena, in contrast to a warrant, requires one to submit and provide testimony and/or to produce certain documents or physical evidence.
Preparing for an ICE Raid:
Where federal agents can and cannot go
Federal agents, including ICE agents and agents of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), may go, without warrant or subpoena, into any publicly available space. ICE officials may not access areas segregated from the general public such as tack rooms or trainer's offices unless they have a particular legal document(s).
What is required for a legally valid warrant: A checklist
These legal documents fall into one of two categories.
- The first category is warrants signed by a judge. These are judicial warrants.
- The second category includes warrants and subpoenas signed by an administrative agency representative such as an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ). These administrative warrants are often referred to as Form I-200 or I-205 warrants.
The law treats these two categories differently. Generally, administrative warrants and subpoenas do not require compliance, while judicially signed warrants and subpoenas do require compliance. Also, a subpoena from a judge may be challenged. If a judicial warrant is not challenged, compliance is required. Because of this legal nuance, when confronted with a warrant or subpoena, it is recommended that legal counsel be consulted.
There are four key points to consider in determining whether a judicial warrant is valid. These points are:
- Signature
- Timeframe
- Specified description of the premises to be searched
- A defined list or category including the identification of persons or items to be searched and seized.
The document further explains the key points for a valid warrant:
- First, the warrant must be signed by a judicial officer.
- Second, to be valid, the warrant must specify the time in which the search must be conducted.
- Third, the warrant must set forth and describe, with specificity, the persons and/or items to be searched or seized. For example, it must specify a specific barn, office, tack room, etc. with some degree of specificity.
- Fourth, a valid warrant must include a list of those items to be searched for and seized.
If presented with a warrant, the following checklist should be considered:
- Does the warrant bare the signature of a judicial officer
- Is it dated and is the search being conducted within the dates certain on the warrant
- Does the warrant provide specificity with regard to the premises of being searched
- Does the subpoena provide a specific item or list of items or persons to be searched or seized.
In reviewing this checklist, a deficiency in any of these items may well invalidate the warrant or the subpoena.
Preparing for the ICE raid: Employer rights and responsibilities
What to do
If presented with a valid search warrant or subpoena, as an owner, trainer, or veterinarian, you should:
- First, make a written record. The record should include the identity of the supervising ICE agent and the United States attorney assigned to the investigation.
- The record should also include a written inventory and/or video of all items seized.
- In inventorying the item(s) seized, make a request for copies of those seized documents/ items. Note: ICE agents are required to provide an inventory of all items seized.
- Further, object to any search or seizure outside the scope of the warrant or the subpoena. For example, if the subpoena is limited in scope to a tack room and/or a backstretch office, any search of a vehicle or trailer would be outside the scope of the warrant/subpoena.
- In stating an objection with regard to a warrant or subpoena, do not debate with the ICE agents. Instead, state the objections and request the ICE agent record the objection. If an objection is made, record that as part of the written record.
- Additionally, if ICE agents exam or seize protected materials such as correspondence or memorandum to and from counsel, state an objection to the seizure on the basis of privilege and, in doing so, be certain to make a detailed list of those items being seized as part of the written record and request the right to counsel regarding the seizure of those documents.
What not to do
If presented with a valid search warrant or subpoena, you should not:
- Do not interfere with federal agent's activities.
- If federal agents request access to a locked area, assuming the area(s) are encompassed and set forth in the subpoena or warrant, provide access.
- And, importantly, do not provide any statement to a federal agent. There is no obligation to provide such a statement.
- While there is no obligation to provide a statement, do not instruct employees to refuse to provide statements. Such instructions may well be viewed as obstructing the investigation.
The better practice is to have a plan in place so that your employees understand what to do and what not to do.
Action to be taken after an ICE raid
It is important to memorialize what occurs immediately after the ICE agents leave. The information in the written report should include:
- The number of ICE agents that were present and whether those agents were armed.
- The memorandum should also include details with regard to the segregation of individuals and conditions under which they were detained and questioned.
- Further, if any employee or individual is arrested, the written report should include information where that individual(s) was/were taken.
- Additionally, this memorandum should include the notes taken during the raid and should be immediately provided to counsel.
Conclusion
The current aggressive policies toward deportation of undocumented immigrants have ramifications for horsemen and their employees and our industry. Oscar Gonzales, Vice Chairman of California Horse Racing Board, recently commented on this situation and correctly stated: "We all know there is a lot of anxiety right now... and what we do know now is there is a high possibility they (ICE) will be acting- and swiftly and rather aggressively". Vice Chairman Gonzales is correct. And those of us in the Thoroughbred industry need to be and stay prepared and informed.
Is sexual harassment an issue on the backstretch?
Words - Ken Snyder
“You’ve come a long way baby” was a slogan for a cigarette brand back in the late ‘60s. And while more and more women trainers are commonplace on racetracks, the problem is they and other females are still addressed as “baby” and far, far worse by male workers…in the early 2020s.
Sexual harassment at racetracks, like practically all workplaces across America, exists. And things far worse than a “honey,” “sweetie,” or yes, “baby” is directed at women by men unfamiliar with them, creating uncomfortableness or offense.
To wit, at one racetrack, female workers living on the backside above the barns generally can’t leave their rooms at night by themselves.
At another racetrack, a female assistant trainer living on the backside had to make sure to lock her tack room door as there were persons, presumably drunk and/or drugged men, pounding on it on many nights.
The locations of the instances above are not important because sexual harassment is everywhere on every racetrack. Extremes like the situations above are seemingly minor forms of harassment, not physically threatening but damaging on another level.
Sandra Washington, a 21-year-old assistant trainer to John Alexander Ortiz, is the tack room survivor. Much to Ortiz’s credit (and were all trainers this thoughtful and generous) he moved Washington into his home with his wife and family for two years. He expressed his reason succinctly: “There are some bad people back here.”
There are bad people everywhere, but the racetrack is an environment with living arrangements and working hours that make for far more dangerous scenarios.
A member of one racetrack chaplaincy, who is female and ministers specifically to female backside workers, said, “I am not allowed to work here when it is dark.” Not surprisingly, the racetrack she serves is where female barn workers also can’t go out when it is dark either.
“Most of them take showers right after they work. They don’t want to be out of their room” she said.
“If they do go out, they make sure to be part of a group,” she added, “but most completely avoid it.”
To say the racetrack is different from other workplace environments is comparing Mother Earth to the moon. Where to begin? The biggest difference is a huge majority of female workers on the racetrack do not leave their place of work for homes elsewhere. As many as 85% of workers live in racetrack dorms or above barns (and also above the horses). Life with male co-workers in some kind of proximity is 24/7.
Demographically, female racetrack workers are overwhelmingly Hispanic. In fact, racing in the U.S. might employ more Hispanics, per capita, than any other industry. If this is not a factor in the degree or number of instances of harassment, it certainly is a factor in how female victims respond to it. (More on this later.)
Add to that an outdoor environment. “Catcalls are a common commodity back here,” according to Washington—something that will bring you before Human Resources in a hurry in office settings, typically.
Lastly, there are cultural and economic issues unique to the racetrack.
Understanding the impact of coming to a foreign country and an environment that can be virtually inescapable is a factor in being preyed upon, according to Karen Jemima Davila. She is a student at Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville and assistant to Churchill Downs racetrack chaplain, Joseph del Rosario. “It’s just work, work, work. They [Hispanic women] save a little bit for themselves and the rest they send back to their homes. It affects how they do things and how they understand themselves.”
Most do not know what is out-of-bounds as far as treatment from men because they are not integrated into American culture, lifestyle, and, most important, rights. And if they do know what is permissible and what is not, they fear reprisal or job loss if they report harassment.
“I’ll lose my job--that’s the biggest fear. ‘If I come forward, are they going to kick me out and take my license?’” said Eli Hernandez, racetrack chaplain at Santa Anita, Del Mar, and San Luis Rey.
“That’s the problem right there. ‘I keep my mouth shut; I’ll keep my job.”
Social pressures also exist to prevent either coming forward or pursuing a complaint to a conclusion and action by the racetrack against a perpetrator. “The word starts getting around that it’s their fault. ‘You brought this on yourself.‘ ‘You’re easy.’ People start whispering,” said Hernandez.
“That’s a lot of pressure. You’re talking about 25-, 26-, 27-year-olds. All they’re trying to do is make a living and support their families. It’s bad enough they’re away from their families,” said Hernandez.
Another factor is a fear of deportation if they come forward—a fear not grounded in fact. According to Hernandez and others questioned, a Hispanic woman who is an illegal immigrant is regarded as a possible victim of an offense and that only. Nothing more, nothing less. With representatives at every jurisdiction interviewed for this story, the message was the same: immigration status is not and will not be an issue with a woman lodging a complaint.
Are Hispanic women unaware of immunity from deportation proceedings if they file a complaint for sexual harassment? Lynn McNally of the Nebraska Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) responded, “That’s a good question.”
“Probably more could be done to communicate that there wouldn’t be repercussions in their immigration status because they reported something.”
Racetracks—it is safe to say and to their credit—are not ignoring the issue or standing still on measures to prevent it. Churchill Downs and the racetrack chaplaincy, along with non-profit organizations historically supporting efforts there and the Kentucky HBPA are re-instituting meetings from pre-Covid days to make female workers aware of what is and what isn’t sexual harassment, and what to do if they are harassed.
Before Covid, Churchill Downs conducted three meetings a year in the on-track chapel there.
“There are always new people, so this has to be ongoing—something that we continually address,” said del Rosario.
“The purpose is to encourage women to not accept that kind of behavior…to speak out, that Churchill Downs Security is not going to tolerate it, and to pass the word to others.“
One initiative that was also pre-Covid was hiring a women’s ministry director—a position now filled by Davila. “That has helped build trust. A woman talking to another woman will make it easier,” said del Rosario.
Nebraska tracks are similar to Churchill Downs in that harassment prevention seems to be a collective effort from various racetrack constituencies.
Both the Nebraska HBPA board members and management at racetracks in the state are at the core of a shift in attitudes of mutual respect, according to McNally. “I think that that gives us a tremendous advantage in moving things forward and having women feel comfortable in the workplace.
“There’s a difference between being internally supportive and actually taking action to prevent behaviors from occurring with employees. Our president, Gerald Wilson, has been extremely vocal about treating all employees respectfully. He’s been very, very proactive and vocal about it.”
Women-to-women relationships, counsel, and guidance are probably the most important keys to prevention on Nebraska racetracks as well, according to Lynne McNally. “We are an all-female staff at the HBPA.”
Hernandez, as well, is mindful of gender in building trust issues in his work in Southern California.
“I always have my wife there,” he said of encounters with female barn workers reporting harassment. “Sometimes they just want to talk to my wife.
“‘Who can I trust? Who can I come to where I’m not going to be judged? ‘You’re not going to put me down.’ ‘You’re not going to blame me, but you’re going to listen to me,’” Hernandez said, echoing what he has heard and what he has seen in serving as a chaplain in Southern California.
“I told my wife when we started four years ago, ‘Let’s show people our hearts before we ask them to show us their hearts.’”
Hernandez believes he and his wife have built a foundation where women are less hesitant about coming forward.
Coming forward, however, is only the beginning of a process that often is short-circuited by the victim.
He recalled driving a female racetrack worker to make a report who, on the way, told him she didn’t want to proceed with a report after all. “‘I don’t want to get a bad reputation. I don't want people to start talking bad about me,’” he recalled her saying in response to why she wouldn’t file a report.
“It will happen. Everybody is going to know. Everybody is going to say she’s a slut, or she’s the one who gave in.”
The number of individuals coming to Hernandez—two female workers last year and three in 2020—would seem to indicate the issue is not a big one, at least at Southern California racetracks. The fact is, the number of harassment offenses unreported is inestimable.
The need expressed by everyone responsible for harassment in the racetrack environment is better communication to female barn workers about their rights and making certain of good resources for protection.
Hernandez is an example, perhaps, of resources and equally important, a thoughtful, careful approach to aiding and supporting a victim. “Our main goal is to build trust by having a safe zone here where people just come here.
“We put out clothes, water, toiletries, shoes, and Pampers every day. We also make breakfast for people who don’t have money.
Perhaps more impactful and important for harassment victims is how he and his wife approach the individual. “Let’s do one ‘stitch’ at a time,” said Hernandez, using a wound analogy to describe both what he sees in harassment victims and the care that he and his wife try to bring to women coming to them. “We won't try to close up the wound in one day. Let’s talk a little bit today and then tomorrow we’ll visit it again.”
Let’s hope racing will have fewer “wounds” for the Sandra Washingtons of racing and the many, many Hispanic female workers simply trying to make a living for themselves and their families in their home countries.
A living is not always a life.
Backstretch Forward
By Annie Lambert
CHRB member Oscar Gonzales, Jr, possesses the backside credentials to confidently tackle his new position.
He may have come from humble beginnings, but recently appointed California Horse Racing Board appointee Oscar Gonzales, Jr, drew from family values on and off the racetrack in pursuit of success.
Gonzales is proud of his large racetrack family, including National Museum of Racing Hall of Famer Ishmael ‘Milo’ Valenzuela. Almost every one of his relations, in fact, has worked on the backside at California racetracks.
The 51-year-old former groom worked his way through college and into corporate business and public service. Gonzales has a passion for people, which his career goals have embraced.
“I grew up in East Los Angeles where poverty rates are high, but dreams and hopes are alive and well,” acknowledged Gonzales. “That, coupled with my experience on the backstretch where the work ethic and commitment to a bigger picture, is really what got me started into public service.”
On Track
Gonzales is the penultimate of four children born to Oscar, Sr, and Yolanda Gonzales as a young couple living in East Los Angeles.
His extended family is a complex blend of the Gonzales and Valenzuela families. Jockey Milo Valenzuela is Gonzales Sr’s uncle, making rider Patrick Valenzuela Oscar Jr’s second cousin. Milo had 21 siblings, so, plenty of family worked on the backside. A four-generation pedigree could seem daunting.
“My dad’s mom, Maria Gonzales, is the sister of the Valenzuela brothers,” Oscar pointed out. “The boys were all jockeys or trainers; the women worked a combination of jobs.”
At 6’1” Oscar chuckled that he never had a shot at making a rider.
Oscar, Sr, was an exercise rider in his younger (lighter) years before grooming and working as a barn foreman. Grandpa Jose (Joe) Gonzales, fondly nicknamed Chelo, was a groom for Lou Carno and others. Grandmother Gonzales, Maria, sold her homemade burritos barn-to-barn on the backside.
Oscar and his brother, Alfred, followed in the shadow of their father and grandfather. Alfred spent three years grooming horses for Tom Blinco, before sadly passing away at a young age.
Oscar, Jr, truly grew up on the backstretch; in his early teens he helped his father and grandfather whenever school afforded him the time. He often ate in the track kitchen where his mom worked. Once he secured his first license he stepped out from under the family umbrella.
Gonzales enjoyed his school days era. He was a Student Body President in high school, as well as in college - his first two leadership positions. His initial, official boss on the backside was his uncle, Albino Valenzuela in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
“You always kind of start off with the family and then you find people outside the family pay just a little bit better and they don’t work you so hard,” Gonzales said with a laugh.
Gonzales is confident he can be a bridge between individuals and groups to help resolve some of racing’s bigger challenges.
“When I first got my license in 1984 at Hollywood Park, my dad was a barn foreman for Martin Valenzuela, Sr, who had some really good horses back then,” said Gonzales. “I was able to work for some big outfits and learn the ropes. My first two full-time hot walking jobs were during the summers of 1984 and 1985 working for Joe Manzi and Dick Mulhall respectively. Those were really good experiences, great horsemen, well rounded, quality horses with good people around them all the time.”
Once graduated from Rosemead High School, just four miles from Santa Anita, he attended East Los Angeles College in nearby Monterey Park, California, before transferring to University of California San Diego three years later.
While attending ELAC, Gonzales went to work full-time at the racetrack rubbing horses in Darrell Vienna’s barn for three years. When he transferred to UCSD he spent two years working for D Wayne Lukas and his assistant, Randy Bradshaw, at San Diego Chargers owner Gene Klein’s training facility in Rancho Santa Fe near Del Mar.
During his school years Gonzales never quibbled about the size of his paychecks.
“I always asked for flexibility because of my class schedule and extra curricular activities,” Gonzales offered. “Everywhere I worked people were always supportive. I never asked for any other favors except to hang my tubs early so I could go take an exam or go to a meeting at school.”
“It all worked out,” he added. “Without that experience on the backside I don’t think I would have gotten through school; I’d never have been involved in public service. There were so many people that I surrounded myself with that understood that I was kind of on a mission in life to help people and to not forget where I came from.”
There was a crossroad for Gonzales once he finished his education. Training horses had always been a passion of his. He secured his trainers license at Sunland Park in New Mexico, but before he dove into that profession life circumstances drew him into politics.
“Training was always a desire of mine because it’s such an honorable profession,” said Gonzales. “It takes a lot of hard work and attention to detail. I always looked up to the trainers and their ability to straddle many worlds; they have to be competent in so many ways. It’s one of the best professions out there. The good trainers last so long because they love what they do.”