Canadian dies while in ICE custody in Florida, U.S. agency says

A Canadian citizen died while in custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this week, the agency says.

Johnny Noviello, 49, died in a detention centre in Florida on Monday, an ICE news release says.

The cause of death is unknown and is under investigation, according to the release.

Despite having Canadian citizenship, Noviello had been in the U.S. since 1988 and became a lawful permanent resident in 1991, the release says.

In 2023, he was convicted of a number of offences — including racketeering and drug trafficking — and had been sentenced to 12 months in prison.

Public court documents from that case state that Noviello had epilepsy which required medication to control his seizures.

ICE agents arrested Noviello in May and he was being detained "pending removal proceedings," the agency's news release said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand posted a statement on social media Thursday saying that the government had been notified of Noivello's death.

"Canadian consular officials are urgently seeking more information from U.S. officials. I offer my sincere condolences to the family," she wrote in a post on X.

Noviello's death comes as ICE agents have been making sweeping arrests across the United States.

Earlier this year, U.S. President Donald Trump issued a raft of executive orders that aim to clamp down on illegal immigration and advance his goal of deporting millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally.

Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and the main architect of Trump's immigration policies, has pushed ICE to aim for at least 3,000 arrests a day, up from about 650 a day during the first five months of Trump's second term.

WATCH | Canadian woman describes her ICE detainment: 

‘That place breaks you’: Canadian woman describes 11 days in ICE custody

3 months ago

Duration 1:56

Canadian actress Jasmine Mooney tells CBC News about her 11-day ordeal in ICE detention after trying to enter the U.S. to renew her work visa. Mooney describes what she saw as ‘disgusting,’ saying of her detention cell: ‘That place breaks you.’

Trump himself has called on ICE officials "to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest mass deportation program in history."

The immigration crackdown sparked massive protests in Los Angeles earlier this month. Trump responded to the demonstrations by ordering troops into the city, drawing the ire of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. 

Noviello isn't the only Canadian to have been arrested in the U.S. since the ICE sweeps began.

Jasmine Mooney from B.C. was arrested and held for nearly two weeks after trying to get a work visa renewed. She was released and returned to Canada in mid-March.