Racing Board Members Ask INS Aid on Aliens

In a polite but spirited exchange, two members of the California Horse Racing Board pleaded Wednesday with officials of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to adopt a more cooperative attitude toward the racing industry and suspend raids to capture illegal aliens working at the tracks.

“I would beg the INS to cooperate with our efforts to do something about this problem, rather than shut down an industry that contributes to the economy of the state,” said board member Paul R. Deats of the Santa Ynez Valley.

Deats said the INS, instead of seizing illegal aliens as in recent raids at the Del Mar and Santa Anita tracks, should be helping trainers get U.S. work permits for foreign nationals who perform many of the menial jobs in caring for the horses at the tracks. He said the illegal aliens working at the tracks are “particularly adapted” to the kinds of work available and the INS should recognize that their use will not end overnight.

Another board member, Raymond T. Seeley of Blythe, said, “Mexican nationals are by and large the best qualified for these jobs.”

Seeley added, “It is not going to be beneficial to eliminate all the help,” which he said may be the result of continuing the raids. Seeley insisted that legal residents are not willing to take the jobs the illegal aliens are eager to do, and he too insisted that the INS should help get them permits.

A Congressional Matter

Two ranking INS officials who spoke at the regular monthly meeting of the racing board, held at the Arcadia City Hall, responded by saying that helping to get work permits is not their agency’s job. They said only Congress can act to do what Deats and Seeley suggested.

Robert M. Moschorak, associate regional commissioner for operations, and Alan Eliason, chief patrol officer of the San Diego area, indicated that the raids will continue, unless trainers and other employers at the tracks are more diligent in rooting out the illegal aliens.

Eliason accused the employers of not being cooperative with the INS, and said that in the recent raids, the agency had “exercised the only option we had.”

“We could either back off or take affirmative action. . . . Our goal was to see that illegal alien use was reduced and jobs opened up to legal American residents,” Eliason said.

“Your service has put the racing industry between a rock and a hard place,” Deats answered.

Moschorak replied that the INS’ “goal is not to shut down racing in California.”

However, he said, “there has got to be an absolute attempt to reach out to lawful residents who want to work in the racing industry. . . .”