The Decibel - A Canadian died in ICE custody. His family wants answers

Episode Date: July 16, 2025

In May, a Canadian man, 49-year-old Johnny Noviello, was arrested by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at a probation office in Florida. He came to the U.S. legally in 1988, and had been a permanent resident. Later, on June 23, he died while in ICE custody. Noviello was one of dozens of Canadians currently in immigration-related detention in the United States, as the Trump adminstration has ramped up deportations. Janice Dickson, an international affairs reporter for the Globe, went to Florida to find out what happened to Noviello in the weeks before his death. She’ll tell us what she heard from Noviello’s loved ones, and how his death highlights the lack of transparency in the Trump administration’s push to remove migrants.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [e-mail]

Johnny Noviello was a 49-year-old Canadian man who was living near Daytona Beach in Florida. That's Janice Dixon, an international affairs reporter for the Globe and Mail. He had moved there years ago with his family in 1988 and, you know, he spent his childhood years there. He graduated high school. He made friends. and you know he spent his childhood years there, he graduated high school, he made friends, he helped out with his dad's used car dealership and most recently he was working at the Dollar Tree. In May, Johnny Novielo was taken into custody

by ICE, that's US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, at a probation office in Florida. So Johnny was found unresponsive at the Federal Detention Center, Miami, at 12.54 p.m. on June 23rd. A medical team attended him, according to ICE, in the press release that they issued at the time, and called 911. He was pronounced dead at 1.36 p.m. that day.

Johnny was one of the tens of thousands of people targeted for removal in recent months by the United States government. ICE has been ramping up deportations under the Trump administration. They've used tactics like raiding agricultural fields or, in some cases, arresting people arriving for their citizenship interview.

Protests have been erupting across the country. Gianni Noviolo's autopsy will likely be released in the next few weeks. That will probably tell us more about how he died. So Janice went to Florida to learn about what happened to him in the weeks before his death. She, along with investigative reporters Sara Mochdehedsade and Catherine Blais Baum, looked into the Trump administration's push to remove migrants and the reality on the ground. Today, Janice is on the show to talk about what she heard from Johnny's loved ones

and the questions that remain unanswered. I'm Irene Gallia, guest hosting The Decibel from The Globe and Mail. Hi Janice, thank you for joining us. Thanks so much for having me. Janice, you went to Florida to talk to people close to Johnny Noviello and try to figure out what happened to him. What kinds of things were you hearing from his loved ones?

Well, meeting his dad really stands out to me. I met him at his car dealership. He was sitting in his office with tinted windows and faded letters on the outside. And I opened the door and he's just there alone in a black leather chair. I introduced myself to him and then he immediately says, it's his birthday today. It happened to be Canada Day and his son would have been 50.

His friends and family said that he was kind, easygoing, that he loved cars, music, playing pool, that he was a hard worker. One friend said, you know, you can't get him mad. He's the type of guy to give you the shirt off his back. So they had very kind words to say about him. I'd also like to raise that I went to the Dollar Tree where he worked and his dad actually said, you know, you want to talk to people who knew Johnny, please go to the Dollar Tree because his colleagues, you know, they loved him there. And so I

went and you could just really feel the grief in the air there. And yeah, his dad and brother talked very fondly of him and they're really grieving. Sounds like he'd been living in the US for a long time, and he had a lot of strong relationships there. What was his legal status? So I said in the press release announcing that he had died, that he had entered the country legally with a visa in 1988, that he had gained permanent residency, and he had a green card for the years that he was there.

But you know, his family and friends said that he tried to write the citizenship test and struggled. He failed multiple attempts and so he didn't have a citizenship there. Right. So he had been a permanent resident of the US but not a citizen. And what about his family? Were they citizens? He has siblings that were born there, so they're citizens of course,

and his dad also gained his citizenship. Janice, you reported that Johnny was arrested while he was at a probation office. Why was he there? He was on probation because in 2023 he had been convicted of several drug-related charges. He had been sentenced to 12 because in 2023, he had been convicted of several drug related charges. He had been sentenced to 12 months in jail, but only served four because of a pre-trial detention period and good behavior. That's what his criminal defense lawyer in Daytona Beach told me. Johnny was ordered to also complete two years of community control, which is an intense supervised custody.

His lawyer managed to reduce that to one year, and he was also ordered to abstain from drugs or alcohol and submit to random urine tests and work. And this was part of his probation that he was serving, but he never breached his probation. His lawyer told me that. So it's really not clear what brought him in that day. What were the grounds for ICE to detain him if he was a US permanent resident? Because US laws stipulate that if a non-citizen commits

certain crimes, certain drug-related offenses in particular, they can be removed. And so that's regardless if you have served your time. Okay. Ultimately, Johnny was held by ICE for five weeks before he died. Is it unusual that he would be held for so long before being removed? Well, what we don't know is why he was held for five weeks when he was prepared to leave and had family waiting for him. But we do know that people under threat of removal are now at a greater chance of being

imprisoned and being held for lengthy periods because there is such a spike in detentions under the Trump administration's current crackdown and immigration enforcement. You know, ICE published data last week showing that there are 58,000 immigrants being held in detention, which is the highest detention level set even by the previous Trump administration in 2019. So we're trying to get a handle on that very question, why he was there, why it's taking so long, and there have been other cases reported recently of people who have been held for quite lengthy periods. And human rights groups that are monitoring this argue that, you know,

people awaiting deportation don't need to be held in immigration facilities or particularly prisons like where Johnny was held. There's other methods, whether it's tracked by an ankle bracelet at home or having a date to appear in court. And so there's a lot of questions raised by this lengthy detention. It sounds like he had some medical complications as well. Can you tell me about those? Yeah.

So Johnny had epilepsy and that's one thing we heard over and over again from friends and family that he relied on medication. And you know, his dad told me that he was diagnosed not long after he was born when he was really young that it's something he's he's dealt with his whole life one of his friends said you know he always had his pills in his pocket and so the day that Johnny was picked up his dad told me that he drove to a facility in Orlando where he was initially held and actually handed medication over to a guard

there and said, you know, this is Johnny's medication. You know, prisons and detention facilities have their own routine when it comes to ensuring that medication reaches inmates. So it's not likely necessarily that this medication would have reached Johnny, but I think it shows that his father really cared about him, really cared about, you know, how much he needed this medication. So the family has a lot of questions around that. And I know ICE has said that, you know, they

ensure that people in their custody have access to medical care, but this is one of the really big pressing questions for the family. Right. And after he was detained, was his family able to get in touch with him to find out if he was getting his medication? No. And that's what's caused so much additional anxiety. His father said that he called constantly, couldn't reach him, couldn't find out any information. And, you know, a couple of weeks after he had been detained, he actually

wrote him a letter and he said in his letter that he was trying to figure out what was going on and that everything was top secret. He wrote that he prayed he was getting his medication and said that he was devastated. We'll be right back. Janice, tell me about the detention center where Johnny was being held. What was that like? So the actual building where Johnny had been held is, you know, this large, imposing concrete building in downtown Miami. There's very small windows.

It looks remarkably different than the buildings that are around it because there's a lot of sort of newer high-rise condo buildings and it's a jail. There's concrete barriers around, but then at the same time, it's so close to this bustling waterfront area where, you know, when I was there people were celebrating the 4th of July. So it's a really interesting building that contrasts with what's happening around it. And in terms of what's happening inside, I mean, court documents have shown that, you know, there's been at least two suicides there, a lot of complaints about the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and treatment of medically vulnerable inmates. You know, and I think it's important to point out that with facilities under pressure, and

ICE facilities in particular, because of Trump's big immigration push, ICE made an agreement with the Bureau of Prisons to house immigration detainees at eight jails. And this is one of them. And so critics have said that prisons are not equipped to deal with, you know, the growing number of inmates that now include people awaiting deportation. Right. You've been following this story closely and trying to figure out what happened to Johnny. What have you heard from the US authorities involved here like ICE, like the Bureau of Prisons, and even the Miami Fire Rescue Department? So ICE didn't respond to more than two dozen questions we sent. The Bureau of Prisons didn't respond to more than two dozen questions we sent.

The Bureau of Prisons didn't provide information about the conditions that Johnny had endured or whether he had access to medication, also citing privacy and security reasons. And Fire and Rescue Miami, also citing privacy, said it couldn't provide information about its response at the scene. What has the Canadian government had to say about a Canadian citizen dying in ICE custody? So Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Nand said the government is urgently seeking more information from US officials about Johnny Novello's death. But since she said that, you know, two weeks ago now, we have followed up constantly with the

department of global affairs asking if they can share any more and they just cite privacy reasons that they can't share, you know, what they're doing. They just say Canadian officials are in touch with American officials. We've also asked a series of questions about approximately 55 Canadians that the government is aware are also in US detention on immigration related grounds. They won't share any information about the 55, just that number does fluctuate as new cases come up and cases are resolved. But I put a series of questions to the department about the average length of detention or where these individuals are held

and they wouldn't provide any answers. Do we know can the government do anything about it? So a global affairs spokesperson said that consular officials provide assistance to Canadians detained and that they can raise concerns about justified and serious, and that's a direct quote from her, complaints of ill treatment and discrimination with local authorities. But beyond that, they wouldn't share any additional information. We're seeing a massive increase in the scale of people

being detained by ICE. What does Johnny's story tell us about what's happening in the states right now? Well, I think Johnny's story tell us about what's happening in the states right now? Well I think Johnny's story is really crucial because it's one thing to be arrested and removed from the country after having a criminal conviction, if that's the country's policy and that's what it is. But it's quite another to be detained for five weeks, not be able to reach your family. And then to die there, you know, without any contact, it shows that there is such a huge gap in transparency when it comes to this whole process.

You know, Johnny was facing deportation. His family was ready to receive him. I spoke with his brother who had set up a room for him in Montreal. He had a doctor lined up to see him so that as soon as he landed, he could have his prescriptions filled because that was so important. And they were prepared for this. They're prepared for Johnny to leave and start a new life in Canada, but they never could have prepared for him to be detained in communicato for weeks and then die in this facility in Miami. And it just shows that, you know, the US has this policy of mass detentions and deportations, but the system is not equipped to carry it out because, you know, people shouldn't

die that way. Janice, you had the chance to speak with Johnny's loved ones, including his father. What stands out most to you from those conversations? Well, I mean, everyone was shocked. His friends and family said that in general he was healthy, you know. And so from their perspective, they're watching, you know, healthy individual get detained and sort of have all these questions around how he was doing there. And then to find out that he died, it's just been such a huge shock for them to comprehend. And, you know, his dad told me that he put money on this. He was calling it a booking number.

It's like an account where you can, you know, allow people who are held in jail to call you. And so he put money on this number. And he said he never called. And so he just questioned whether this number and he said he never called and so he just questioned whether he ever had access to a phone because he never got that call and you know it's just it's just been really devastating for for everyone close to him. Janice thank you so much for being with us today. Thanks so much for the conversation.

being with us today. Thanks so much for the conversation. That was Janice Dixon, an international affairs reporter for The Globe and Mail. That's it for today. I'm guest host, Irene Galia. Our producers are Madeleine White, Michal Stein, and Ali Graham. Kevin Sexton mixed today's episode.

David Crosby edits the show. Adrian Chung is our senior producer and Angela Pacenza is our executive editor. Thanks for listening.