New Mexico Training Center Target of Immigration Visit

[Wandering Eyes]

Early last week, immigration officers descended upon the Frontera Training Center in Sunland Park, New Mexico, an apparent video from which has been shared widely on several social media platforms. The training center is a little over a kilometer from the Mexican border.

According to Kim Payne, who works for the Frontera Training Center, the visit constituted officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. Border Patrol, and a local police agency.

Payne didn't describe the visit as an immigration sweep, but rather a pointed visit for specific individuals. She said she believed it was related to ongoing fuel thefts and property damage at the training center.

“We have had some fuel stolen, probably $10,000 worth of diesel. Then they came in and took out our track guy's cameras, took his hydraulic lines,” said Payne.

“For about two months, we were calling the police–like three times a day. It was really bad. They were having so many thefts,” she added.

Payne said that she believed the agents arrested two individuals at the training center. This mirrors reporting by KTSM, a local news station.

In that local news report, two workers at the training center describe being approached and questioned by immigration officials.

“They asked if we lived here, we said 'yes.' They asked for documentation and if we were U.S. citizens, and we said 'yes.' And then they wanted us to let them go into our house, that's when we refused,” said one of the workers, a resident at the property and a U.S. citizen, according to KTSM.

“Once we refused that, we were surrounded by them. There was a man with firearms walking around the house and stuff, which I think was very unnecessary,” the worker reportedly said.

The Trump regime's promised crackdown on illegal immigration has spooked many within the racing industry. At the same time, officials and key trainers downplay fears that the horse racing industry will be a pointed target of immigration officials.

According to Payne, the barns within the training center are deemed private property.

“I had wanted to go ahead and give them authority to go inside the barns. If they were looking for somebody they wanted, I didn't see a problem with it,” she said.

“But the owners had the vote. And the majority of them voted not to let them in, and to make them obtain a warrant,” Payne added.

Immigration attorney Will Velie recently told the TDN that while law enforcement officers will sometimes try to use an “Administrative Warrant” to enter a private property, they can only do so if they have a “Judicial Warrant.”

“The way you can tell the difference is if it says, 'Department of Homeland Security,' it's an administrative warrant. If it says something like, 'Judicial District of Northern Kentucky, United States Court,' then it's an official judge's warrant,” said Velie.

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