What happens to the pets left behind in ICE raids?

Ask Me Anything #18 / Animal Politics with Ed Boks

Introduction

In times of political and social upheaval, certain consequences are immediate and visible—others remain tragically overlooked. Amid the debates over immigration policy and enforcement, one group is consistently left out of the conversation: the animals.

When families are detained or deported, their pets are often left behind—confused, abandoned, and at risk. These animals have no part in the decisions that uproot their lives, yet they suffer the fallout. Regardless of one’s politics, we must agree: they deserve better.

This AMA isn’t about taking sides on immigration policy. It’s about recognizing the collateral damage experienced by voiceless companions—and asking what we, as a humane community, are willing to do about it. Animal welfare organizations have a unique opportunity to step into this void and provide protection, support, and compassion where systems currently fail.

Let’s talk about what’s happening—and what can be done.

The Question

I was devastated by the recent LA Times article about pets being abandoned after ICE raids. These animals are innocent victims, stranded in shelters or left behind entirely. Is anyone doing anything to help them? Could Best Friends, with all their resources and transport infrastructure, step up?

— Concerned in California

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Animal Politics Response

You’re not alone in your concern. The LA Times exposé pulled back the curtain on a disturbing and overlooked reality: immigration enforcement in L.A. isn’t just about policy debate or headlines—it’s a crisis that’s quietly filling local shelters with bewildered, grieving pets. Shelter staff witness this every day. This crisis isn’t the aftermath of a natural disaster—it’s the fallout of a political storm still raging across the city.

ICE pets, as many now call them, crowd Los Angeles shelters in unprecedented numbers. Since ICE activity surged, local surrender rates have soared: Palmdale and Downey shelters report more than doubling of dog surrenders this June compared to last year, and city shelters saw a 57% spike in euthanasia rates this spring. Veterinarians report clinic appointments in affected neighborhoods have plummeted—families skip vet visits out of fear, putting their pets’ health further at risk. All the while, pets are dropped off at shelters by neighbors, or are left chained and abandoned in backyards until turned loose by landlords, left to wander lost in the streets.

These animals arrive at the shelter terrified, disoriented, and grieving. Some—like Chuco, whose family vanished overnight—wait by the kennel door long after the voices they knew have faded away. Each is a refugee of a political war they never chose to participate in.

So if our system for deportation makes no provision for pets, who will step in?

As Deportation Threatens L.A. Pets, BFAS Finds Its Spotlight in Texas

The Spotlight and the Shadows

To be fair, no organization can be everywhere at once. Resources are finite. Emergencies—natural and political—demand triage. But critics suggest there may be one organization uniquely qualified to intervene in this crisis.

Julie Castle, CEO of BFAS, recently published a newsletter highlighting her team’s “rapid deployment” to West Texas during recent floods. Critics—mostly local Texas rescuers—dismiss these efforts as “rescue theater,” reminiscent of the performative stunts seen during Katrina and Harvey.

Meanwhile, LA based rescuers ask what it means when a high-profile, well-funded organization consistently deploys where cameras gather, yet remains absent in a slow-burning crisis in the very city it promotes as a national model and relies on as a major source of donor support?

That, they concur, is not triage—it’s a performance.

Castle reported that over 1,000 animals were rescued and moved from shelters in the impacted region. But local Texas rescuers say the numbers seem inflated—and as the waters recede, so does the ability to verify those claims. Meanwhile, they’re too busy saving animals to dispute slick national marketing.

Meanwhile, here in L.A., there’s currently no natural disasters, no dramatic drone footage. Just a slow, relentless tide of heartbreak as families are uprooted and they are forced to leave their animals behind. It’s not that this crisis is invisible—it’s just not cinematic. And for organizations built to monetize urgency, that makes all the difference.

A Man-Made Disaster

This isn’t a natural disaster. It’s a man-made one—authored by policymakers, executed without forethought, and leaving a wake of suffering animals behind. The U.S. government included no safeguards for pets in deportation actions. That left a gaping hole in our safety net for animal welfare organizations to fill.

BFAS boasts about its trucks, transport hubs, and fundraising network. Everything they brought to Texas could be brought—and is desperately needed—in L.A. But there’s no telethon here, no mass transport caravans. Just crowded kennels and silent casualties waiting, and dying, in the shelter shadows.

The “Save Them All” Test

Critics might say, “These families broke the law” and “They shouldn’t even be here.” Maybe. But that’s an argument for policy makers, not an excuse for animal advocates to abandon these animals in need. The pets of deported families didn’t break any laws—except to cross the border from beloved companion to orphan.

If we profess a promise to “save them all”, it must mean more than stat sheets and branding. It must mean taking responsibility for every animal, especially those left on society’s margins.

BFAS has the infrastructure to make a difference. Now’s the moment to decide: Are they only a brand—or a movement?

This critique is not against BFAS alone. Why hasn’t any major national group built a response protocol for this foreseeable, recurring humanitarian—and animal—disaster? If “disaster response” is part of your brand, this is your disaster. And L.A.’s shelters are the front line.

Call to Action

So I challenge them all:

Don’t just chase the spotlight. Follow the need.

Reroute the trucks. Activate your networks. Invest your unspent spay/neuter millions to ensure every rescued animal—from any disaster, natural or manmade—is spayed or neutered before adoption or, better yet, safely reunited with family across the border when possible.

Put your money—and your mission—where your message is.

The forsaken animals of Los Angeles are dying to hear from you.

Ed Boks is a former Executive Director of the New York City, City of Los Angeles, and Maricopa County Animal Care & Control Departments, and a former Board Director of the National Animal Control Association. His work has been published in the LA Times, New York Times, Newsweek, Real Clear Policy, Sentient Media, and now on Animal Politics with Ed Boks.

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