South Florida Deportations Are Quietly Filling Animal Shelters

On June 23, just two years after he was adopted from the Humane Society of Broward County, Nino was dropped off at the same shelter where he once found his forever home.

Described as a "sweetheart" who is well-behaved, in tune with his emotions, and overall "the perfect dog," the 7-year-old Pointer mix wasn't surrendered for one of the usual reasons, which typically include financial restraints, allergies, or behavioral issues.

Instead, he arrived with a brief note: "family deported."

Nino is just one of a handful of pets who have been surrendered to animal shelters across South Florida after their owners were either deported or forced to flee the country under President Donald Trump's aggressive immigration crackdown. It's a largely hidden toll of the mass deportation efforts — and one that's adding pressure to an already overwhelmed system.
At the Humane Society of Broward County in Fort Lauderdale, at least four dogs and one cat were recently surrendered under these circumstances, spokesperson Cherie Wachter tells New Times.

One of them is Bruce, a 5-year-old pit bull mix.

Wachter says Bruce was brought to the shelter on May 3 after his owner, the father of the family, was deported. His wife, left to care for their four children and two cats, was preparing to leave the country and couldn’t bring Bruce along; the airline refused to take him because of his "rambunctious behavior."

Another is Margot, a 2-year-old brown tabby cat. Wachter says that after Margot's owners were deported, they left her in the care of a friend who intended to keep her, but quickly discovered he was severely allergic to cats. On July 7, he returned Margot to the shelter. The roughly 10-pound, black-and-brown striped cat is described as mellow and sweet, and gets along with "calm dogs" and kids.

Nino, Bruce, and Margot were each adopted within weeks of being surrendered.

Still, Wachter says: "I'm sure these won’t be the only pets we receive because of this reason."

Wachter explains that each animal arrived at the shelter with the reason listed as "no home" and an additional note elaborating that their owners were deported from the country.

While the shelter didn’t previously list "deported" as a reason for surrender, Wachter says it does now.

"Some, but not all, of the other reasons animals are surrendered include cost, allergic, too many, gift, divorce, owner ill, pet ill, other pet, not housebroken, no home, too friendly, barks, no room, no time, sheds, too big, too small, moving," Wachter wrote in an email, "and now deported has been added."

Janet Steele, director of Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control, says she's aware of at least 19 pets surrendered to the shelter or its rescue partners this year "as a specific result of immigration detention."

On July 20, for instance, an 11-year-old male poodle with extensive medical issues was surrendered to the shelter after someone called the police to report that the dog's owner was "deported by ICE," Steele tells New Times.

She says the senior dog is partially blind, has tooth loss, doesn't walk well, and has fleas and hookworms.

While the dog undergoes medical intake, including a physical exam, routine vaccinations, a heartworm test, and other diagnostics, Steele says the shelter has sent a "Notice to Owner" to his last known address.

If the shelter doesn't hear back by the end of this week, they'll process him for adoption or rescue, as is standard practice.

"Should they not respond by this Friday, we will likely send this dog to one of our rescue partners, as they are better equipped to deal with older pets," Steele says.

The Palm Beach County shelter also recently took in a 5-year-old female German Shepherd mix named Zuri after her owner was deported. Lady Luck Animal Rescue, a Fort Lauderdale-based animal rescue group, said it quickly secured Zuri a temporary foster home. A photo shared on the rescue's Facebook page shows the dog in the back seat of a car en route to her foster.

Zuri is currently available for adoption through Lady Luck Animal Rescue.

Good Karma Pet Rescue, a nonprofit foster-based rescue in South Florida, says it has also received several dogs and cats surrendered after their owners were deported.

In February, after Lena and Leon's owners were deported, the pair of dogs wound up in the rescue's care, says the group's vice president, Devin Soto. The following month, two separate families adopted the small, scruffy, 1-year-old pups, which Soto believes are Portuguese Podengo.

In late July, the rescue took in two felines — a black cat named Milady and a tabby named Vader — whose owner, according to Soto, "was just deported but had enough time to surrender them before leaving the country." The pair still needs a home.

The trend unfolds as shelters across South Florida continue to operate beyond capacity.

Miami-Dade County Animal Services has long struggled with overcrowding in its shelters.
In past years, its Doral shelter, built to hold 350 dogs, has housed nearly 600. To manage the overflow, the county relies on a facility in Medley. (For more than a decade, New Times has documented ongoing issues at the Medley site, including a severe canine distemper outbreak in 2012 and reports of unsafe cleaning chemical use that caused severe irritation to dogs' scrotums in 2015.)

Miami-Dade County Animal Services spokesperson Mylena Gonzalez acknowledged that the county shelters face an ongoing "severe overpopulation crisis."

She says that while the department doesn't specifically track animals surrendered due to deportation, it has seen a "noticeable increase in owner surrenders tied to personal circumstances" since last year.

"We understand these are incredibly difficult decisions for pet owners, and we recognize the hardships many in our community are facing," Gonzalez wrote in an email to New Times. "As these challenges continue to emerge within our community, we are focused on connecting residents to resources and providing support wherever possible."

Gonzalez says the overcrowding at the shelters has strained the county's ability to provide proper care and increased health risks for the pets.

She emphasizes that the shelter urgently needs support from adopters, fosters, and rescue partners.

"Although we are currently facing a severe overpopulation crisis, our commitment to serving the people and pets of Miami-Dade remains unwavering," she says. "Each pet that finds a home, whether temporary or permanent, helps alleviate overcrowding, reduces stress for the animals who remain, and gives us the ability to focus more resources on those still in our care."