Spike in abandoned pets overwhelms shelters as Trump's deportation machine rolls on

A new report shed light on the collateral damage of President Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign: the dogs and cats left behind.

When federal immigration agents swept through New Orleans, they snatched people and left pets to fend for themselves, according to a New York Times report that looked into the quiet devastation of Trump's immigration agenda — a surge of abandoned and displaced pets flooding already-overwhelmed animal shelters from Minnesota to Florida.

“What many Americans don’t realize is that there are companion animals being left by families that disappeared overnight,” said Maria Thomas, president of Rolling River Rescue in New Orleans.

St. Paul Animal Services recorded a massive 38 percent spike in stray and abandoned pets in January alone, coinciding with Operation Metro Surge, the report noted. A Tampa rescue group is now seeing three times as many animals as it was a year ago. In New Orleans East, volunteers are leaving food outside vacant homes where dogs still wait for owners who may never return.

Two puppies burrowed under one such house. Two others from the same litter froze to death during a cold snap, according to the report.

Last month, a Guatemalan man wept as he surrendered his two cats at Animal Rescue New Orleans, knowing he would likely be detained when he reported to court days later. His cats spent weeks cowering in a corner, Ginnie Baumann Robilotta of Animal Rescue New Orleans told the Times.

"He adored those cats, and they loved him," she said.