Pets are being abandoned and surrendered to shelters as their owners are swept up in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Daymi Blain operates the Adopt and Save a Life Rescue Mission in South Florida.
“This is all we’re getting now: pets with deported and detained owners. Nobody calls for anything else,” she told The Washington Post.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen with all this, but I can tell you that the animals are the ones paying the price,” she added.
Animal shelters are growing overcrowded as pets lose their homes with their owners detained or deported.
All over the U.S. animal welfare groups say they’re handling an uptick in calls about pets with owners picked up by immigration authorities, or who have left the country of their own accord.
The rising need for space comes as animal shelters are already spread increasingly thin following the pandemic, as they deal with being short on staff and decreasing adoptions. Some animals may be euthanized because there’s no space for them.
“All rescues like us plan for disasters,” Jean Harrison at the Big Fluffy Dog Rescue in Nashville told The Post. “I plan for floods. I plan for the tornado and hurricane seasons coming up. It did not cross my mind that I needed to be prepared for an onslaught of displaced pets from deported immigrants.”
The Department of Homeland Security told The Post that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “does NOT impound property,” but didn’t clarify further.
Lucero, a young dog, was abandoned close to a gas station after her owner, a trucker, was apprehended. A pair of German Shepherds, Lolita and Bruno, with six puppies, were all surrendered by a man who was set to be deported after a quarter-century in the U.S.
It remains unclear how many animals have lost their homes as no government agency keeps track.
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse figures show that 56,816 people were in ICE custody as of July 13, but it remains unclear how many are pet owners.
Florida, where Blain operates her shelter, had the largest single-state immigration operation in U.S. history earlier this year. The shelter has taken in as many as 19 dogs, 12 cats, 11 roosters, and a number of rabbits, guinea pigs, and pigeons, according to The Post.
The Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control said 15 dogs had been left behind since June following deportations.
Animal Care Centers of New York City said it had handled four cases connected to immigration this year.
Harrison, in Tennessee, told the paper that she had seen three “waves” of animals come into her shelter. In the spring, families from Venezuela started leaving their pets after the Trump administration removed their deportation protections. The largest wave came in May after raids conducted by ICE. Then, there were the animals left behind, with pets in empty homes going unseen for weeks.
Harrison told the paper that two rescuers found two Great Pyrenees, which should weigh about 110 pounds, weighing in at 49 pounds.
“They had some water, but no food. Nobody knew they were there,” she said.
