Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents allegedly left a pair of dogs alone for a week without food or water after they took the animals’ owners into custody, according to a new report.
The Oklahoman owner of the dogs was taken by ICE in January, when the agency was still under the guiding hand of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, according to PunchUp.
Noem has her own checkered history with dogs, admitting in her memoir Going Back that she shot and killed her young pooch Cricket because the animal was misbehaving.
The ICE agents did not alert animal control to the fact that there were dogs in the house, according to the report. Luckily a neighbor noticed the animals were still inside, and alerted the apartment’s manager to their situation.
A man going by the social media handle “Animal Welfare Guy” posted a video of the rescue online, and told PunchUp that he is still angry that the ICE agents left the animals without alerting anyone that they would need assistance.
“ICE deported the owners and then left, with the animals locked in the apartment for about a week,” he said.
The footage shows the dogs cowering inside the ruined apartment. When animal welfare officials reached the dogs, they were trembling in a back bedroom and barking at the rescuers.
A spokesperson for DHS told The Daily Beast that it gives individuals who are detained “every opportunity to arrange care for their pets after their arrest. They are afforded the opportunity to reach out to a neighbor or family member who can care for the pet.”
The Independent has requested comment from ICE.
The animals were eventually wrangled and taken into captivity where they were fed and given water.
Animal Welfare Guy told PunchUp that law enforcement is always supposed to call animal control when an arrest means leaving animals alone in a house without care. But ICE has no protocols for impounding property, which includes animals, according to DHS.
According to The Week, pet seizures consistently spike anywhere ICE is operating. St Paul Animal Services reportedly logged a 38 percent increase in stray, seized, and surrendered cats and dogs in January 2026 when compared with the previous January, the report says.
That was the same month that ICE surged into Minnesota, which resulted in the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Last June, dog surrenders more than tripled over the average in a single week. ICE’s LA raids began on June 6, 2025, according toThe Week.
