A Canadian man died in ICE custody. Now, his family is searching for answers

Globe and Mail

11-07-2025

But in 2023, he was convicted of several drug-related charges – a turn of events that changed everything. Under American immigration laws, non-U.S. citizens convicted of drug offences may be removed from the country.
Mr. Noviello's brother wanted to do everything he could to make the transition back to Canada seamless. He went to the Montreal church where Mr. Noviello had been baptized to request a copy of his birth certificate, which he needed in order to get his Canadian documents. And he found Mr. Noviello a private doctor who agreed to see him when he arrived, which was crucial because Mr. Noviello relied on anti-seizure medication to treat epilepsy.
But five weeks after Mr. Noviello was picked up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, his family was still waiting. Mr. Noviello was being held at the Federal Detention Centre, Miami – a Bureau of Prisons facility with a history of complaints related to medically vulnerable inmates.
On June 23, at 12:54 p.m., Mr. Noviello was found unresponsive. Medical staff called 911 and tried to resuscitate him, but at 1:36 p.m., the Miami Fire Rescue Department pronounced him dead. He is one of 11 people to die in ICE custody so far this year. His death is under investigation, and an autopsy report is expected to be made public in the coming weeks.
Now, his loved ones are seeking answers. They want to find out if untreated epilepsy contributed to his death. They want to know why Mr. Noviello was detained in a prison for 40 days – and why he was unreachable apart from one brief phone call.
The unanswered questions about his incarceration and subsequent death – no matter the cause – are indicative of a lack of transparency in the United States' expansive use of detention as a tool for immigration enforcement. The Trump administration's immigration crackdown has led to a sharp increase in the number of incarcerated individuals – up 56 per cent over last year to a total of nearly 58,000, including 55 cases involving Canadians.
With the U.S. Congress recently approving a budget that includes $30-billion toward more arrests and deportations, the concerns about due process and detention conditions raised by Mr. Noviello's case have become more pressing.
In an interview with The Globe and Mail in Daytona Beach, Mr. Noviello's father said he had come to terms with the fact that his son – who was at his side most of his life, helping out at the family's used car dealership – was being sent back to Canada. He was comforted by the fact that relatives would welcome him and help him start his new life.
'I wasn't feeling that bad for him to go over there,' Angelo Noviello said from his black leather chair in his office overlooking the car lot, Daytona Auto Sales. 'But he didn't – never made it.'
The 80-year-old car salesman leaned back. 'It's his birthday today,' he said. It was Canada Day. His son would have been 50.
Mr. Noviello was among dozens of Canadian citizens who are being held at immigration-related detention centres across the United States. Global Affairs Canada said it's aware of approximately 55 cases involving Canadians held in ICE custody.
In an effort to uncover more about Mr. Noviello and the circumstances surrounding his death, The Globe travelled to Florida, interviewed several of Mr. Noviello's relatives and close friends, as well as his former criminal attorney. The reporting involved reviewing hundreds of pages of court documents dating back to the early 1990s, as well as interviews with immigration lawyers and advocates from across the United States.
The Globe's reporting found that Mr. Noviello's prolonged detention in a prison with a troubling record was a result of a system not equipped to handle the growing number of people at risk of deportation. The situation has become so unwieldy that ICE has had to enter into agreements with the Bureau of Prisons to take on some of its overflow, including at FDC Miami.
No officials provided any explanation to The Globe about why Mr. Noviello was detained for 40 days. His relatives say they were not able to access Mr. Noviello, whose medical needs were of significant concern. Epilepsy medications must be taken routinely in order to prevent seizures, which can cause brain damage or death, particularly if an episode is prolonged.
ICE did not respond to more than two dozen questions sent by The Globe over a period of two weeks. The Bureau of Prisons didn't provide information about the conditions of Mr. Noviello's confinement or about his access to medical care, citing privacy and security reasons. Fire and Rescue Miami said it could not provide information about its response at the scene, also citing privacy. Mr. Noviello's cause of death was redacted on a recent court document officially closing his criminal file.
Neither Canadian nor American authorities responded to questions about why approximately 55 Canadians are being held, how long they've been detained, or where they're incarcerated.
The White House is devoting unprecedented resources to arresting immigrants – and has directed ICE to arrest at least 3,000 people a day, several times the average during the final year of the Biden administration. The crackdown has ensnared everyone from asylum seekers to legal U.S. residents.
People under threat of removal are now at greater risk of incarceration while awaiting immigration court decisions: The 58,000 immigrants who are being held in detention, according to ICE data published July 8, exceeds the highest detention levels set by the previous Trump administration back in 2019.
During Mr. Noviello's initial detention in Orlando, his father, Angelo, drove there to drop off his medication. He didn't see him that day and doesn't know if Mr. Noviello ever got the medication.
He only managed to connect with his son once after Mr. Noviello's May 15 arrest at a probation office.
'They let him talk two minutes,' the grieving father told The Globe. 'As soon as the two minutes was up, they shut the phone on him.'
It was the last time the father and son would speak.
Johnny Noviello moved with family from Quebec to Florida in 1988, seeking a warmer climate – one Angelo said he thought would be better for his son's health. Angelo said Mr. Noviello came into the world 'feet first,' causing oxygen deprivation. Not long after he was born, Angelo said, his son was diagnosed with epilepsy.
'Everybody loved Johnny,' his father said. Mr. Noviello maintained close ties to Canada, making regular trips to see family in Montreal, his father added.
That affection toward Mr. Noviello was palpable at the Dollar Tree where he recently worked. Employees said company policy prevented them from speaking with journalists – but their gazes searched for answers and often met the ground, revealing their grief.
His friends and family described him as kind and dependable. Jason Belanger, 48, met Mr. Noviello in high school, and they had been friends ever since. Mr. Belanger said he trusted Mr. Noviello with everything, from picking up his kids to having spare sets of keys to his house and car.
'I consider him my brother,' he said.
In Angelo Noviello's auto shop, Joseph Colombo, 51, said when he met Mr. Noviello two decades ago, they 'just clicked.' They would shoot pool, hang out and had a shared interest in cars. Mr. Noviello was laid back, he said. 'Couldn't get him mad, you know?'
Mr. Colombo said Mr. Noviello was the type of friend who would give you the shirt off his back. 'It's just sad.'
He said it's not fair that Mr. Noviello, who lived in Florida for most of his life, was picked up by ICE. 'Because I look at the man, he was healthy before he went in there and all of a sudden now he's gone.'
While Angelo became a U.S. citizen years ago, Mr. Noviello remained a permanent resident. He struggled with the citizenship test and failed multiple attempts to pass it. The fact that he wasn't a citizen and had a serious encounter with the law ultimately made him a target for deportation.
In the summer of 2014, Drug Enforcement Agency agents met with a confidential source who claimed a man named Angelo was selling oxycodone and morphine tablets out of his car dealership in Volusia County, according to court documents reviewed by The Globe.
The Daytona Beach dealership belonged to Angelo Noviello, the DEA's subsequent investigation found, and after 'extensive' surveillance, including wire taps, Angelo was identified as the 'sponsor' of an alleged drug operation. This refers to an individual who pays a 'doctor shopper' to visit pain management clinics to obtain narcotics and resell them.
Court documents state Mr. Noviello assumed drug-dealing responsibilities at the dealership when Angelo was not available.
After being charged in 2017, Mr. Noviello pleaded not guilty. Subsequent court filings show his medical condition soon became an issue. He required Klonopin to treat his epilepsy, but the county jail infirmary did not stock it. Mr. Noviello also needed an anti-convulsant, Tegretol, but was only receiving 75 per cent of his regular dosage while in prison, a motion for bond reduction said.
In 2021, with his case still not resolved, Mr. Noviello sought permission to travel to Canada to visit his mother in Quebec, who had Alzheimer's disease and was terminally ill, according to submissions made in court. This request – and a subsequent one to attend his mother's funeral – was denied.
In September of that year, Mr. Noviello wrote a handwritten letter to the Daytona Beach Justice Centre pleading for help, court records show. He was willing to take a lower charge because he wasn't 'about to let my father take all the heat,' he wrote. But after speaking with his lawyer, he believed he'd only been charged because he worked at his father's business.
'This isn't fair to me,' the letter reads. 'This is my first time ever in trouble.'
Almost five years after the initial charges were laid, Mr. Noviello and his father agreed to plead guilty to racketeering and drug trafficking. Mr. Noviello was sentenced to 12 months of jail time but only served four because of his pretrial detention period and good behaviour, according to his former criminal defence lawyer, Daniel Leising.
Mr. Noviello was also ordered to complete two years of community control – a form of intensive supervised custody – and 18 years of probation. Earlier this year, the courts agreed to end his community control early, leaving him to serve out the remainder of his probation period.
Mr. Noviello was ordered to abstain from drugs or alcohol, to submit to random urine tests, and to 'work diligently at a lawful occupation.'
Mr. Leising said he's notified when a client breaches probation terms, and that he was never alerted to any such violation before Mr. Noviello was arrested by ICE.
Mr. Belanger said he's trying to make sense of what happened to his friend. 'I'm trying to figure out why they even picked him up. Like, he's been working. That's all the guy did, was go to work and go home, go to work, go home, go to work, go home.'
After his ICE arrest, Mr. Noviello was placed in removal proceedings and issued a Notice to Appear, a document that instructs individuals to appear before an immigration judge. It's unclear when he was due to appear in court, since his family lost most contact with him once he was detained.
As a non-U.S. citizen with a conviction for a drug offence, Mr. Noviello had no grounds to challenge his deportation, said Charles Kuck, founding partner at Kuck Baxter in Atlanta and an adjunct professor of law at Georgia's Emory University.
Mr. Kuck has represented Canadians facing removal from the U.S., including a man last year who won a waiver to remain in the country after being convicted of an offence that wasn't drug related. He said Canadians who aren't fighting removal have, in the past, typically been expeditiously removed from the U.S. – in a matter of days, not weeks.
'It's a clear sign of the massive dysfunction of our immigration system, and the lack of concern and health treatment given to detainees,' Mr. Kuck said.
More and more people will soon come into the crosshairs of the U.S. immigration system. Earlier this month, Congress passed a massive spending bill that allocates nearly US$30-billion to round up and deport immigrants. According to the American Immigration Council, an advocacy organization, the bill represents the single largest increase in funding to immigration enforcement in the history of the United States.
As detentions ramp up, the country's immigration courts are struggling to process the 3.5 million pending cases before them. Miami – where Mr. Noviello was incarcerated – has the largest backlog of immigration cases in the country, data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University shows.
Throughout Mr. Noviello's detention, Angelo regularly tried but failed to reach his son. He even wrote him a letter, desperate for news.
'I cannot find out anything [it's] all top secret,' the handwritten letter to Mr. Noviello reads. He said he prayed his son had access to the medications he needed.
And then he signed off: 'Love you and hope to see you soon. Dad.'
In Miami, the federal detention centre where Mr. Noviello died, with its grey concrete facade and slit windows, is wide and imposing. On a recent day, the prison seemed to blend in with the Miami skyline, yet also stood in contrast to the towering condo buildings around it. The prison is just steps away from a bustling waterfront, but outside its doors, it was quiet, apart from the occasional rooster crowing.
Immigrants placed in removal proceedings can be released after their initial arrest. But the Trump administration favours detention, ICE data show. Last October, ICE booked out almost 4,400 people on parole. In June, that figure plummeted to 57 people.
With its own facilities under pressure, ICE recently forged an agreement with the federal Bureau of Prisons to house immigration detainees at eight jails across the country – FDC Miami among them. Critics say these partnerships raise serious concerns, in part because the BOP is not equipped to deal with an influx of inmates.
The federal prison system has also faced long-standing criticism over medical staff shortages, crumbling infrastructure, and preventable deaths. Some 344 deaths occurred in these facilities between 2014 and 2021, many from suicide, homicide or opioid overdoses, a Senate committee heard last year. BOP staff repeatedly displayed 'significant shortcomings' in responding to medical emergencies, the U.S. Justice Department's Inspector-General testified.
Over the past several years, court records indicate that FDC Miami saw at least two suicides, as well as numerous complaints about its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and treatment of medically vulnerable inmates.
Not long before Mr. Noviello's incarceration, another immigration detainee at the facility filed an emergency release petition alleging he'd been unable to access prescribed medication for a serious lung disease, according to court documents obtained by The Globe.
The prison said the detainee had been 'clinically stable' for the duration of his detention and received appropriate care. His petition for emergency release was denied.
The Noviello family is waiting for news on the official cause of death, but is concerned his underlying condition played a part. Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner's Office told The Globe Mr. Noviello's autopsy report was not yet public and could take up to six weeks to be released.
Dr. Elizabeth Donner, an epileptologist and University of Toronto professor in the faculty of medicine, said anti-seizure medications require regular administration: missing even a single dose can be dangerous, she added.
In a statement, BOP spokesperson Emery Nelson said the organization could not provide specifics of Mr. Noviello's death for 'privacy, safety, and security reasons.'
Mr. Nelson said federal prisons were making strides to address concerns raised by the Justice Department audits and 'mitigate' unexpected deaths. Medical staff at BOP facilities conduct daily rounds, and all inmates have access to regular psychological and medical care, Mr. Nelson added.
'The BOP takes pride in protecting and securing individuals entrusted in our custody, as well as maintaining the safety of correctional staff and the community,' the statement said.
FDC Miami, after consultation with ICE, has created procedures to allow immigration detainees to meet with legal support, the statement added.
'All individuals in our custody are continually encouraged to maintain contact with loved ones, friends, and outside resources.'
ICE has also previously said that detainees are never denied emergency care.
Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister, Anita Anand, said the government is 'urgently seeking more information from U.S. officials' about Mr. Noviello's death. Global Affairs Canada, however, would only say that consular officials remain in contact with U.S. authorities. The department said that due to privacy considerations, they would not disclose further information.
Global Affairs Canada also declined to provide information about the approximately 55 Canadians in immigration-related detention in the U.S.
In an e-mail, Global Affairs Canada spokesperson Renelle Arsenault said consular officials provide assistance to Canadians detained abroad and can raise concerns about 'justified and serious' complaints of ill-treatment and discrimination with local authorities.
Angelo never received a response to the letter he sent to his son inquiring about his medications, he said.
He had also put money on an account that he said was meant to allow Mr. Noviello to call him. But Angelo believes his son never gained access to a phone, because the call never came.
'He's been with me all my life,' he said. 'I really miss him.'