BREAKING: A Canadian Citizen, In The US Legally, Died in ICE Custody

Johnny Noviello was the first Canadian to die in ICE custody. He won’t be the last...

June 26, 2025.

It finally happened. A Canadian died in an ICE detention facility.

His name was Johnny Noviello. He was 49. He died alone in a Miami detention center on June 23, 2025. And his name now joins a growing list of people — human beings — who’ve died under the watch of ICE during Donald Trump’s unprecedented, unhinged, and completely unaccountable deportation crackdown.

Let’s be crystal clear: this is state-sponsored violence that caused the death of a Canadian citizen. Sanitized behind bureaucratic lingo like “removal proceedings” and “pending consular notification” is the raw fact that a Canadian man was locked up by ICE — a U.S. agency notorious for medical neglect, suicides, abuse, and dehumanization — and he never made it out alive

Who Was Johnny Noviello?

• A Canadian citizen, born in 1975, who had lived in the U.S. since 1988.

• Became a lawful permanent resident in 1991.

• In 2023, he was convicted of racketeering and drug-related charges and served a 12-month sentence.

• He was arrested by ICE after completing his sentence in May 2025.

• He died in ICE custody in Florida on June 23. The cause of death is “under investigation.”

ICE informed the Canadian consulate. Full transparency, they said. But if you believe the Trump regime is operating in good faith, I have a detention centre in a swamp to sell you — literally. Florida is currently planning a new ICE facility nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz.” Because nothing says “humane immigration policy” like trapping immigrants in an Everglades prison surrounded by snakes, pythons, and alligators.

The Trump Deportation Machine Is Killing People

Let’s talk numbers. Because Johnny Noviello isn’t some tragic exception. He’s part of a systemic pattern of death inside America’s immigration jails.

📉 At least 9 people have died in ICE custody in just the first half of 2025.

📉 Detainee deaths have already eclipsed last year’s total.

📉 ICE is now targeting 3,000 arrests per day, up from 650/day earlier this year.

📉 Over 50,000 people are currently held in ICE detention, including refugees, migrants, legal visa holders — and yes, Canadians.

📉 Suicides, untreated illness, and medical negligence are the leading causes of death. Watchdog reports show that dozens of ICE deaths were preventable.

Let that sink in: Johnny Noviello could still be alive today. And tom Homan, ICE Czar, wouldn’t be living in hiding from all the easily understandable death threats he’s getting for killing people like Johnny Noviello.

“That Place Breaks You”: ICE Has Come for Canadians Before

Johnny wasn’t even the first Canadian arrested this year.

In March, Jasmine Mooney, a Canadian actress from British Columbia, was detained for 11 days by ICE after trying to renew her legal work visa. She described the conditions as “disgusting,” the guards as indifferent, and the experience as emotionally scarring.

“That place breaks you into a million pieces.”
— Jasmine Mooney, Canadian actress and ICE detainee

If ICE can detain working Canadians for visa paperwork and detain — then kill — a Canadian permanent resident for a past sentence he already served, who’s next? Artists? Tech workers? Tourists?

Trump’s Deportation Blitz Isn’t Just About the Border — It’s a War on People

Here’s what changed: Trump signed executive orders in early 2025 that removed virtually all discretion from ICE enforcement. That means:

• No exemptions for legal residents or visa holders.

• No oversight of detention conditions.

• No mercy for anyone caught in the net.

To deliver the “single largest mass deportation program in history,” ICE is targeting everyone, not just undocumented immigrants. Trump has even deployed U.S. Marines in Los Angeles to support ICE raids. Protesters were tear-gassed. California’s governor sued. Trump threatened to arrest him.

If that sounds more like a military junta than a democracy — that’s because it is.

If a Canadian dying in U.S. immigration custody doesn’t wake us up, what will?

Johnny Noviello’s death is a warning to us all: Trump’s war on immigrants doesn’t stop at the border. Canadians are collateral damage. Our sovereignty means nothing to his regime. And if we keep pretending we can do business with a fascist next door, more Canadians are going to die — silently, alone, and dehumanized in some ICE hellhole.

This Wasn’t Justice. This Wasn’t Safety. This Wasn’t Canada

Johnny Noviello served his time. He had legal status. He should’ve had rights.

Instead, he died in a cage, in a foreign country, under the jurisdiction of an agency that has killed hundreds of people in custody over the last two decades. And now he’s the first Canadian on that list.

God help us if the Canadian Government doesn’t make sure he’s the last.