Animal Shelters Overwhelmed as ICE Raids Force Families to Leave Pets Behind

As immigration crackdowns increase in frequency, animal rescues around the country are facing an influx of surrendered and abandoned animals. A Tampa rescue is the latest animal welfare organization affected by the surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportations. Mercy Full Project told Fox 13 News that it is taking in a record number of abandoned pets whose guardians were forced to leave the country; according to founder Heydi Acuna, the organization did not anticipate the sheer volume of animals left behind. 

“We have these families contacting us to see how we can help because they don’t have a place for the animals,” Acuna said. “It’s a crisis we were not expecting.”

Mercy Full Project has taken in many dogs surrendered by undocumented families who chose to leave the country voluntarily. And then there are the animals abandoned after their guardians were detained and deported. Since ICE is not responsible for any property left in the wake of a raid, pets can sometimes be left alone in empty residences. One such case was Mud, a dog discovered by a neighbor in a backyard weeks after his family was deported suffering from severe skin infections, heartworm, and hookworm.

"His organs are still not working properly," Acuna said. "We’re doing bloodwork and biopsies to try to save him."

Under the Trump administration, raids by ICE have ramped up. Earlier this summer, an LA Times exposé dove into how mass deportations from ICE raids were leaving cats and dogs homeless across the city. In late June, dog surrenders tripled from the previous year. But not every family can plan ahead, especially given how frequent, unexpected, and sudden the raids can be. That leaves their pets as collateral damage. 

“They don’t want to surrender their pets,” Marcia Mayeda, director of animal care and control for the County of Los Angeles, told Forbes. “They love them — they’re family members — but they have no other option. Either they’ve been taken into custody or have to leave, and you can’t just leave the country with a pet on a whim. They have to have medical exams by veterinarians and get a medical health certificate, and depending on what country you go to, they may have other rules and regulations. You can’t just throw them in the car and drive across the border or get on an airplane.”

Even when animals are voluntarily surrendered, shelters and rescues across the country are overpacked and underfunded. Many animal organizations were already dealing with “critical overcrowding” for various reasons, like rising living costs and impulsive COVID-19 adoptions that didn’t pan out. 

“It’s already bad, but now on top of that, a lot of requests are because people have disappeared, because people have been deported,” Fabienne Origer, manager of AGWC Rockin’ Rescue, told the LA Times. “It’s just ongoing, every single day.”

The mass abandonment of pets due to ICE raids is happening across the country. From Colorado and California to Arizona and New York, wherever mass deportations occur, beloved pets are left behind. There is no formal network in place to care for these animals, but communities are banding together to help.

Back in February, The Guardian ran a piece about the local, word-of-mouth networks that have sprung up to find homes for these animals. 

“When people are deported, what happens to their animals is such a small part of the bigger issue,” Kyle Aaron Reese, a New York man who adopted a Bulldog named Benny after his family was deported, told The Guardian. “But if we can take care of the animals, that’s something we can do when we feel like we have little control over everything else.”

It’s a beyond stressful time for everyone involved — the deported families, the shelters and rescues, and the animals themselves. One tangible way to help is to adopt from a shelter; giving an animal a home, no matter where that animal came from, will ensure that the shelters have more space. But if you can’t adopt, donating, volunteering, and fostering are good alternatives. If you are at risk of deportation, it’s advisable to create a plan with friends and neighbors to find the best way to care for your pets.