Canadian man dies in ICE custody

A detention employee walks past anti-ICE protesters in Miami

Johnny Noviello was the ninth person to die in ICE custody this year and the fourth in Florida

(Image credit: Giorgio Viera / AFP via Getty Images)

What happened

A 49-year-old Canadian citizen with permanent U.S. residency died in ICE custody at a federal detention center in Miami on Monday, the agency said Thursday. Johnny Noviello was detained May 15 at a parole hearing and was being held "pending removal proceedings," ICE said in a news release. His cause of death was "under investigation."

Who said what

ICE said it planned to revoke Noviello's 1991 green card and deport him because of a 2023 drug trafficking conviction for selling prescription opioids. He served four months of a 12-month sentence in county jail, his lawyer told the Miami Herald. Noviello's death "came as ICE agents have made sweeping arrests" nationwide to meet steep quotas set by President Donald Trump and his deportation architect, Stephen Miller, The New York Times said. The subsequent "ICE arrests in courts, restaurants, hotels and factories have prompted widespread protests."

Noviello wasn't "the only Canadian to have been arrested in the U.S. since the ICE sweeps began," the CBC said. Noviello was the ninth person to die in ICE custody this year and the fourth in Florida, the Miami Herald said. Two of the Florida deaths were ruled natural causes, "but a Miami Herald investigation found delayed medical treatment and questionable care."

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What next?

Polling suggests that Trump's immigration push, once one of his top issues, is increasingly unpopular. In a Quinnipiac University survey released Thursday, 41% of respondents approved of his handling of immigration while 57% disapproved. The only higher disapproval number, 39%-59%, was for deportations, and voters similarly disapproved of ICE's job performance 39%-56%. (The poll of 979 voters had a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points.)

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.