Canadian consular officials put pressure on more information from the US government after the death of a Canadian citizen while in the care of American immigration and customs application in a detention center in Florida this week.
Johnny Noviello, a legitimate permanent resident of 49 years in the United States, was detained at the Miami federal detention center while he was facing an expulsion during a conviction in 2023 for racketeering and drug trafficking, according to ICE.
He was found unanswered and declared dead by the Miami fire rescue department on Miami on Miami, according to Ice. The cause of his death is still the subject of an investigation, said the agency.
“The medical staff responded immediately and began to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation, an automated external defibrillator shock and called 911,” said Ice.
CNN contacted the Miami fire rescue service for more information.
Novielllo was arrested by ICE in a probation office on May 15 and published an appearance notice for the procedure for dismissal, “having been sentenced to violation of any law or regulation … relating to a controlled substance,” Ice said in a press release.
The arrest occurred in the middle of the expulsion expulsion campaign of the Trump administration which highlighted the capture of immigrants found guilty of crimes.
The Canadian government was informed of Noviello’s death on Thursday, the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand said in a press release. “Canadian consular officials are urgently looking for more information from US officials,” added the press release, adding more details will not be provided to respect the family’s privacy.
Global Affairs Canada said that consular officials were in contact with the American authorities to collect more information on Noviello’s death.
Noviello became a legal permanent American resident on October 24, 1991, after entering the United States in January 1988 with a legal visa, Ice said.
He was convicted in the county of Volusia, Florida, in October 2023 for racketeering, oxycodone traffic and Hydrocodone, and sentenced to 12 months in the county prison, according to the judicial archives.
Noviello only served about 125 days of his sentence with credits for good conduct and purged time, said Daniel Leizing, a lawyer who represented Novielllo in the criminal case. The lawyer added that the last he had heard of Noviello was in February when a judge granted him a community service.
The ice in his declaration noted that the migrants detained have access to emergency care 24 hours a day in detention and said that he was “determined to ensure that all those who are in his resident custody in safe, secure and human environments”.
The agency reported seven deaths in detention in 2025 to May 5, according to Ice website.
