Man who died in ICE custody among dozens of Canadians in immigration-related detention

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Several dozen Canadians are currently in immigration-related detention in the United States, Global Affairs Canada confirmed Friday after the death of a Canadian in a centre south of the border.

This week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said a Canadian man, Johnny Noviello, 49, had died in its custody in Florida. It is the 10th death in ICE custody this year.

Mr. Noviello was a permanent resident of the United States and lived there for more than 30 years. In 2023, he was convicted of several drug-related charges. ICE arrested him on May 15 and charged him with removability because of his drug convictions.

He was detained at a Federal Bureau of Prisons detention centre in Miami pending deportation proceedings and was found unresponsive on June 23. ICE said he received medical attention but was pronounced dead less than an hour later. The agency said the cause of death is under investigation.

Global Affairs Canada said consular officials provide assistance to Canadian citizens who have been detained. On Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand wrote on social media that Canadian consular officials were “urgently seeking more information from U.S. officials” about Mr. Noviello’s death.

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Global Affairs Canada said consular officials provide assistance to Canadian citizens who have been detained. On Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand wrote on social media that Canadian consular officials were “urgently seeking more information from U.S. officials” about Mr. Noviello’s death.

While it is not known how Mr. Noviello died, he had epilepsy and relied on medication.

Daniel Leising, who represented Mr. Noviello in his criminal case, said that when Mr. Noviello served time in a county jail, measures were taken to ensure he was given his epilepsy medication. He said he has no knowledge of what happened while Mr. Noviello was in ICE detention.

Earlier this year, the Federal Bureau of Prisons entered into an agreement with ICE to incarcerate immigration detainees at its facilities, including at the Federal Detention Centre Miami.

There are currently 20 medical staff employed at FDC Miami, according to Bureau of Prisons data requested by The Globe and Mail. The facility houses over 1,400 detainees.

FDC Miami has not been subject to any ICE facility inspections, the immigration agency’s publicly available records show.

In a statement, BoP spokesperson Scott Taylor said FDC Miami is accredited until 2027 by the American Correctional Association, a third-party organization contracted to assess federal detention centre standards. (The contract expired last year and has not been renewed).

Federal prisons are also subject to oversight by the Government Accountability Office and the Office of the Inspector General, but Mr. Taylor said they were unable to provide information on when FDC Miami last received a site inspection.

John Gihon, a partner at Lasnetski Gihon Law, said he represented several clients held in immigration detention at FDC Miami earlier this year.

Mr. Gihon, who previously served as a senior attorney for ICE and is a past chair of the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s Central Florida Chapter, said he was “shocked” to learn of the partnership because FDC Miami is not equipped to handle an influx of immigration detainees.

“You couldn’t get any information about your immigration case because the people who work at the facility are not immigration officers,” he said.

Mr. Gihon said his clients reported significant concerns with overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions at the detention centre.

“It’s just deplorable,” he said.

Medical care, including delays in accessing prescription medication, is a system-wide issue, said Mr. Gihon. Detainees’ medication is typically confiscated to prevent illicit substances entering the prison system. Inmates must then sign release forms so the detention centre can contact a care provider and obtain a new prescription – but there are often delays in the process, said Mr. Gihon.

In a May letter to federal officials, the American Civil Liberties Union and several other rights organizations flagged “troubling systemic failures” in providing immigration detainees with access to legal support at FDC Miami.

“FDC-Miami has severely, and unlawfully, limited detained individuals’ access to counsel by restricting access to telephone calls with attorneys,” the letter says.

The federal prisons agency has agreed to place ICE detainees at eight facilities across the country, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons said in a statement to The Globe.

Detention Watch Network, a non-governmental organization that seeks to abolish immigration detention in the U.S., said Mr. Noviello’s death marks a “grim milestone” in a sweeping roundup of non-citizens by U.S. authorities under President Donald Trump.

“There are currently more than 59,000 people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention, an all-time high. Trump’s cruel detention expansion is exacerbating inhumane conditions and expanding human rights abuses, with increasing reports of death, medical neglect, [and] overcrowding,” the NGO said in a statement.

ICE’s own statistics show that the majority of the fatalities have occurred in Florida and neighbouring Georgia.

ICE said in its statement announcing Mr. Noviello’s death that it is committed to ensuring people in its custody are in “safe, secure and humane environments” and that medical care is provided. “At no time during detention is a detained illegal alien denied emergent care.”

The agreement signed earlier this year by ICE and the Federal Bureau of Prisons lays out the procedures for the confinement of male immigration detainees at several U.S. prisons, including those held in as many as four units within the detention centre in Miami, where Mr. Noviello died.

The agreement, which was obtained by the Miami Herald, states that in the event of a medical or mental health emergency, the Bureau of Prisons would “immediately provide necessary emergency medical treatment, including initial on-site stabilization and off-site transport to an appropriate emergent care facility, as needed or via ambulance as clinically indicated.”

The agreement also states that in the event of a death in custody, the deceased detainee should be turned over to the coroner as soon as possible. “In case of a questionable death, the Special Investigative Agent will work in co-operation with ICE on any on-going investigation.”

The warden or the ICE district director, the agreement states, can order an autopsy after the death of any immigration detainee.

ICE did not respond to The Globe’s questions about Mr. Noviello’s death.

Mr. Noviello is not the only Canadian to have died in ICE custody. In the summer of 2020, a 72-year-old Canadian died in hospital after he was held for nearly three months in a Virginia detention centre that had a major COVID-19 outbreak.

Warda Shazadi Meighen, a Toronto-based immigration lawyer, said she has had clients held in ICE facilities in the past and many reported “harsh conditions, inadequate infrastructure, and frequent lockdowns.”

With reports from Colin Freeze and Kathryn Blaze Baum