A Secure Dog, a Sudden Shot: A Family Demands Answers After Border Patrol Kills Their Pet
Photo illustration by Yunuen Bonaparte for palabra
"He was his best friend," says the attorney for a distraught El Paso man whose dog was killed inside his own home during an immigration check that found no wrongdoing.
Editor’s note: This story was co-published with Puente News Collaborative in partnership with KTEP News. Puente News Collaborative is a bilingual nonprofit newsroom, convener, and funder dedicated to high-quality, fact-based news and information from the U.S.-Mexico border.
El PASO — Border Patrol agents showed up at a quiet home on a fall morning just after dawn, looking for undocumented immigrants. They said they had surveilled the house for days.
Instead, an agent shot and killed the family dog.
More than two months after the shooting, the homeowner, 26, is waiting for answers and demanding accountability for why his beloved seven-year-old Rottweiler was slain on September 9th, in El Paso’s tree-lined Upper Valley.
The dog’s owner does not want his name used for privacy reasons. His attorney said he was cooperative when agents arrived and told him they were investigating a tip regarding “alien smuggling at the residence,” something the homeowner denied.
“He told agents they could come in,” said Marisa Ong, the family’s attorney. But first, the homeowner said he would put his dog Chop in a bathroom, according to Ong. He pointed to the agents where his dog was.
Although his owner had secured Chop inside a bathroom, the dog was released by a Border Patrol agent and shot from a distance of about 18 feet, Ong told KTEP News.
Chop with his ball at home in El Paso. His family is demanding answers after a Border Patrol agent shot the seven-year-old Rottweiler inside their home in El Paso. Photo courtesy of the family
U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed in a statement that on September 9th, “A U.S. Border Patrol agent was involved in a use of force incident in El Paso, Texas …. The incident involved a canine.”
The use of force is currently under review by CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility in accordance with CBP policies, according to the statement that read in part, “CBP takes such incidents seriously.”
The killing of Chop shows that it's not just migrants and children, but also family pets caught up in the Trump administration's aggressive immigration enforcement effort in cities across the country, from Los Angeles and Chicago to San Antonio and Charlotte.
The incident led to a national outcry on social media platforms filled with videos of agents tackling people on city streets, breaking car windows, and arresting immigrants at businesses, even at a home installing Christmas lights on a tree in Charlotte, North Carolina. The scenes have become all too common as the Trump administration tries to carry out mass deportations. Use of force incidents by federal agents spiked this summer but then started to decline, according to data from CBP.
‘A family lost their beloved dog to the actions of a Border Patrol officer, and we are still unaware of what, if anything, the agency is doing to rectify the situation or prevent a similar one from happening again.’
U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, sent a letter to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner and the Border Patrol chief on November 18th requesting an update on the investigation into the lethal use of force at a private residence in El Paso.
"This incident is inexcusable,” Escobar wrote. “A family lost their beloved dog to the actions of a Border Patrol officer, and we are still unaware of what, if anything, the agency is doing to rectify the situation or prevent a similar one from happening again.”
The incident in El Paso’s pristine Upper Valley began when agents knocked on the man’s door. The owner was cooperative and told the agents they could come inside the home after he confined Chop.
"He showed them the exact bathroom he was in. And he told them if they wanted to search that bathroom, to let him know, and he would move Chop," Ong said.
The agents asked the homeowner to step outside. He agreed and went to his truck parked in the driveway to get his identification. Right then, he heard a gunshot, Ong said.
When the man rushed back into his home, agents tried to restrain him, according to Ong.
“He saw the agent who had entered the house. He had his gun drawn. He pointed his gun at my client. And then he saw his dog Chop lying on the floor yelping in pain.” Ong said.
Chop bled to death.
Ong said that by all accounts, the Rottweiler had been an “extremely friendly” dog.
Border Patrol agents did not find any evidence of illegal activity at the home.
Chop near a mountain hiking trail overlooking El Paso. Photo courtesy of the family
Ong mentioned that the family is fully cooperating with the CBP Office of Professional Responsibility investigation as it awaits answers.
Among their questions: Why did a lone Border Patrol agent enter the residence?
“It’s extremely against protocol for an agent to go by himself into a home,” said Ong, a former prosecutor who previously worked on behalf of the federal government.
Support the voices of independent journalists.Until Dec. 31, your donations will be matched dollar-for-dollar. 
|
“It creates a safety risk for the officer. It creates a safety risk for anyone on scene,” she said.
Additionally, the family wants to know why the agent opened the door to the bathroom after the homeowner said Chop was secured inside.
And then there’s a question about when the Border Patrol agent fired his weapon. “The bullet hole where Chop was shot is approximately 18 feet away from the bathroom,” said Ong.
“If Chop had lunged at the agent in any type of way or had been aggressive, you would assume the agent would have shot him right there in the bathroom,” she said, adding that the owner never heard Chop even barking.
Ong filed an SF-95 form on behalf of her client as required for a claim of damage, injury, or death caused by a federal employee. Additionally, the family wants El Paso’s district attorney to pursue animal cruelty charges. The DA's office said it does not comment on pending cases.
Since Chop's killing, the homeowner has not been able to set foot in the house he was renovating with his father, according to Ong.
“He’s extremely distraught. Chop was his best friend,” she said. “It’s just our hope that there will be transparency both about what happened and accountability, so this never happens to another family again.”
—
Angela Kocherga is an award-winning multimedia journalist who has dedicated her career to reporting about the Southwest border and Mexico. In 2019, she earned a Maria Moors Cabot Prize from Columbia University for courageous reporting in Latin America. She served as Mexico bureau chief and border correspondent for a group of U.S. television stations. Kocherga is currently the news director for public radio station KTEP in El Paso. She lives on the southwest edge of Texas and calls the border home. @AngelaKBorder