Canadian who died in ICE custody lived a 'simple life,' his lawyer says
The Canadian man who died while in custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this week was a "very polite, quiet, unassuming man with a very simple life" who did not pose a danger to anyone, says the lawyer who represented him.
Dan Leising represented Johnny Noviello, 49, who died in a detention centre in Florida on Monday. The cause of death is unknown and is under investigation, says an ICE news release.
In 2023, Noviello was convicted of a number of offences — including racketeering and drug trafficking — and had been sentenced to 12 months in prison, according to the ICE release.
But Leising says Noviello never actually went to state prison. Being sentenced to 364 days, he served time in county jail and was out on probation when he was arrested by ICE in May.
Leising says Noviello had not violated the terms of his probation.
LISTEN | As it Happens speaks with Noviello's lawyer:
Leising described the charges against Noviello as "very, very serious." He said Noviello had worked as a cashier and did some janitorial work, and had no prior criminal record.
"Is he violent or anybody that you'd be afraid of if you walked by them on the street? Absolutely not," said Leising.
Leising says he stayed in contact with Noviello's family during his detention and after his death. The family once called Leising when they were unable to get in contact with Noviello during his detention.
He said the family was concerned about Noviello getting the medication required to treat his epilepsy. Leising said he has no knowledge of Noviello's access to that medicine while in detention.
Despite having Canadian citizenship, Noviello had been in the U.S. since 1988 and became a lawful permanent resident in 1991, the release says.
Noviello was being detained by ICE "pending removal proceedings," the agency's news release said.
In an interview with CBC's Power & Politics, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said consular officials had been in touch with Noviello as soon as they heard of his detention.
"At this point we are also seeking additional information relating to the circumstances of his passing away, and I'd like to extend my condolences to his family," she said.
U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra posted a statement on social media saying his team is following the investigation into Noviello's death.
"We will keep the Canadian government informed as ICE completes its investigation," he wrote in a post on X.
Noviello's death comes as ICE agents are making sweeping arrests across the United States.
Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and the main architect of U.S. President Donald Trump's immigration policies, has pushed ICE to aim for at least 3,000 arrests a day, up from about 650 a day during the first five months of Trump's second term.
Lawyer and policy analyst Richard Kurland says Noviello's criminal history means that he meets Trump's profile for priority removal.
He says the president's focus on deporting criminals and "mass detention" comes with "great risk" to those in custody.
"You do not enjoy the luxury of isolated cells," said Kurland. "You're going to have physical interactions between detainees."
Noviello isn't the only Canadian to have been arrested in the U.S. since the ICE sweeps began.
Global Affairs Canada told CBC News in a statement that it is aware of "several dozen cases of Canadians currently in immigration-related detention in the U.S."
One Canadian, Jasmine Mooney from B.C., was arrested and held for nearly two weeks after trying to get a work visa renewed. She was released and returned to Canada in mid-March.
WATCH | Canadian describes ICE detention:
U.S. immigration lawyer Len Saunders, who represents Mooney, says he was surprised to hear of Noviello's death.
"You don't see a lot of Canadians in immigration detention in the United States," he said.
Saunders says the detention system is complex — detainees can't just say they want to be sent home.
"They have to go through the formal deportation proceedings, they have to see an immigration judge," he said.
Saunders says when Mooney was detained, one of her friends wanted to know how to speed up the process. His response was to go to the news.
"That's the only reason I think Jasmine Mooney was released so quickly," he said.
In the case of Noviello, Kurland says there's nothing Canada could have done to prevent his death.
But he says Canada must try to negotiate an overall deal with the U.S. when it comes to the detention and deportation of its citizens — because the numbers of Canadians held by ICE will only grow.
"We need to act now to create a special protocol just for Canadian detainees," he said. "That would relieve a lot of people in a bad situation."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
'She got the arm completely destroyed': 911 call alerts of Boca Grande shark attack
One of two 911 callers frantically alerted authorities of a shark in the Boca Grande water and said they needed help "ASAP." About noon June 11, Boca Grande Fire, along with the Lee County Sheriff's Office and Lee County EMS, responded to the 2200 block of Shore Lane when bystanders reported a shark attacked a 9-year-old girl. Authorities said the swimmer was in the water on the beach when the incident happened. More: 9-year-old girl injured in Florida shark attack. How to protect yourself in the water A GoFundMe fundraiser identified the girl as 9-year-old Leah Lendel and within 24 hours raised more than $25,000 toward its $80,000 goal. Two sharks have attacked Boca Grande beachgoers since C.W. Blosser became the Boca Grande Fire chief, the most recent just this week. Blosser, who has been in the fire service for four decades and was hired as chief 16 years ago. He added it is the first shark attack he responded to. The first of two callers alerted of a shark nearby. "We need medical services [as soon as possible]," a man said. "There's a shark in the water." The dispatcher asked if anyone was injured. "I need to know exactly what happened," the dispatcher said. The caller replied that the attack affected the arm of a "little kid." "She got the arm completely destroyed," the caller said. He added that the child was awake and breathing. The caller said Lendel was responding normally, but she was scared. He told the dispatcher the attack affected "the whole wrist." The dispatcher then instructed the caller to grab a towel and put pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding. "I need you to stay right with the child," the dispatcher said. A second caller reached out to make sure dispatchers had the correct address. The specific location is redacted in the call recording, which lasted just more than 30 seconds. Tomas Rodriguez is a Breaking/Live News Reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. You can reach Tomas at TRodriguez@ or 772-333-5501. Connect with him on Threads @tomasfrobeltran, Instagram @tomasfrobeltran, Facebook @tomasrodrigueznews and Bluesky @tomasfrodriguez. This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Boca Grande shark attack: Authorities report two 911 calls
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
After decades in the US, Iranians arrested in Trump's deportation drive
Mandonna 'Donna' Kashanian lived in the United States for 47 years, married a U.S. citizen and raised their daughter. She was gardening in the yard of her New Orleans home when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers handcuffed and took her away, her family said. Kashanian arrived in 1978 on a student visa and applied for asylum, fearing retaliation for her father's support of the U.S.-backed shah. She lost her bid, but she was allowied to remain with her husband and child if she checked in regularly with immigration officials, her husband and daughter said. She complied, once checking in from South Carolina during Hurricane Katrina. She is now being held at an immigration detention center in Basile, Louisiana, while her family tries to get information. Other Iranians are also getting arrested by immigration authorities after decades in the United States. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security won't say how many people they've arrested, but U.S. military strikes on Iran have fueled fears that there is more to come. 'Some level of vigilance, of course, makes sense, but what it seems like ICE has done is basically give out an order to round up as many Iranians as you can, whether or not they're linked to any threat and then arrest them and deport them, which is very concerning,' said Ryan Costello, policy director of the National Iranian American Council, an advocacy group. Homeland Security did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment on Kashanian's case but have been touting arrests of Iranians. The department announced the arrests of at least 11 Iranians on immigration violations during the weekend of the U.S. missile strikes. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said, without elaborating, that it arrested seven Iranians at a Los Angeles-area address that 'has been repeatedly used to harbor illegal entrants linked to terrorism." The department "has been full throttle on identifying and arresting known or suspected terrorists and violent extremists that illegally entered this country, came in through Biden's fraudulent parole programs or otherwise,' spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said of the 11 arrests. She didn't offer any evidence of terrorist or extremist ties. Her comment on parole programs referred to President Joe Biden's expanded legal pathways to entry, which his successor, Donald Trump, shut down. Russell Milne, Kashanian's husband, said his wife is not a threat. Her appeal for asylum was complicated because of 'events in her early life," he explained. A court found an earlier marriage of hers to be fraudulent. But over four decades, Kashanian, 64, built a life in Louisiana. The couple met when she was bartending as a student in the late 1980s. They married and had a daughter. She volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, filmed Persian cooking tutorials on YouTube and was a grandmother figure to the children next door. The fear of deportation always hung over the family, Milne said, but he said his wife did everything that was being asked of her. 'She's meeting her obligations," Milne said. "She's retirement age. She's not a threat. Who picks up a grandmother?' While Iranians have been crossing the border illegally for years, especially since 2021, they have faced little risk of being deported to their home countries due to severed diplomatic relations with the U.S. That seems to no longer be the case. The Trump administration has deported hundreds of people, including Iranians, to countries other than their own in an attempt to circumvent diplomatic hurdles with governments that won't take their people back. During Trump's second term, countries including El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama have taken back noncitizens from the U.S. The administration has asked the Supreme Court to clear the way for several deportations to South Sudan, a war-ravaged country with which it has no ties, after the justices allowed deportations to countries other than those noncitizens came from. The U.S. Border Patrol arrested Iranians 1,700 times at the Mexican border from October 2021 through November 2024, according to the most recent public data available. The Homeland Security Department reported that about 600 Iranians overstayed visas as business or exchange visitors, tourists and students in the 12-month period through September 2023, the most recent data reports. Iran was one of 12 countries subject to a U.S. travel ban that took effect this month. Some fear ICE's growing deportation arrests will be another blow. In Oregon, an Iranian man was detained by immigration agents this past week while driving to the gym. He was picked up roughly two weeks before he was scheduled for a check-in at ICE offices in Portland, according to court documents filed by his attorney, Michael Purcell. The man, identified in court filings as S.F., has lived in the U.S. for over 20 years, and his wife and two children are U.S. citizens. S.F. applied for asylum in the U.S. in the early 2000s, but his application was denied in 2002. His appeal failed but the government did not deport him and he continued to live in the country for decades, according to court documents. Due to 'changed conditions' in Iran, S.F. would face 'a vastly increased danger of persecution' if he were to be deported, Purcell wrote in his petition. 'These circumstances relate to the recent bombing by the United States of Iranian nuclear facilities, thus creating a de facto state of war between the United States and Iran.' S.F.'s long residency in the U.S., his conversion to Christianity and the fact that his wife and children are U.S. citizens 'sharply increase the possibility of his imprisonment in Iran, or torture or execution,' he said. Similarly, Kashanian's daughter said she is worried what will happen to her mother. 'She tried to do everything right,' Kaitlynn Milne said.
3 hours ago
After decades in the US, Iranians arrested in Trump's deportation drive
Mandonna 'Donna' Kashanian lived in the United States for 47 years, married a U.S. citizen and raised their daughter. She was gardening in the yard of her New Orleans home when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers handcuffed and took her away, her family said. Kashanian arrived in 1978 on a student visa and applied for asylum, fearing retaliation for her father's support of the U.S.-backed shah. She lost her bid, but she was allowied to remain with her husband and child if she checked in regularly with immigration officials, her husband and daughter said. She complied, once checking in from South Carolina during Hurricane Katrina. She is now being held at an immigration detention center in Basile, Louisiana, while her family tries to get information. Other Iranians are also getting arrested by immigration authorities after decades in the United States. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security won't say how many people they've arrested, but U.S. military strikes on Iran have fueled fears that there is more to come. 'Some level of vigilance, of course, makes sense, but what it seems like ICE has done is basically give out an order to round up as many Iranians as you can, whether or not they're linked to any threat and then arrest them and deport them, which is very concerning,' said Ryan Costello, policy director of the National Iranian American Council, an advocacy group. Homeland Security did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment on Kashanian's case but have been touting arrests of Iranians. The department announced the arrests of at least 11 Iranians on immigration violations during the weekend of the U.S. missile strikes. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said, without elaborating, that it arrested seven Iranians at a Los Angeles-area address that 'has been repeatedly used to harbor illegal entrants linked to terrorism." The department "has been full throttle on identifying and arresting known or suspected terrorists and violent extremists that illegally entered this country, came in through Biden's fraudulent parole programs or otherwise,' spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said of the 11 arrests. She didn't offer any evidence of terrorist or extremist ties. Her comment on parole programs referred to President Joe Biden's expanded legal pathways to entry, which his successor, Donald Trump, shut down. Russell Milne, Kashanian's husband, said his wife is not a threat. Her appeal for asylum was complicated because of 'events in her early life," he explained. A court found an earlier marriage of hers to be fraudulent. But over four decades, Kashanian, 64, built a life in Louisiana. The couple met when she was bartending as a student in the late 1980s. They married and had a daughter. She volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, filmed Persian cooking tutorials on YouTube and was a grandmother figure to the children next door. The fear of deportation always hung over the family, Milne said, but he said his wife did everything that was being asked of her. 'She's meeting her obligations," Milne said. "She's retirement age. She's not a threat. Who picks up a grandmother?' While Iranians have been crossing the border illegally for years, especially since 2021, they have faced little risk of being deported to their home countries due to severed diplomatic relations with the U.S. That seems to no longer be the case. The Trump administration has deported hundreds of people, including Iranians, to countries other than their own in an attempt to circumvent diplomatic hurdles with governments that won't take their people back. During Trump's second term, countries including El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama have taken back noncitizens from the U.S. The administration has asked the Supreme Court to clear the way for several deportations to South Sudan, a war-ravaged country with which it has no ties, after the justices allowed deportations to countries other than those noncitizens came from. The U.S. Border Patrol arrested Iranians 1,700 times at the Mexican border from October 2021 through November 2024, according to the most recent public data available. The Homeland Security Department reported that about 600 Iranians overstayed visas as business or exchange visitors, tourists and students in the 12-month period through September 2023, the most recent data reports. Iran was one of 12 countries subject to a U.S. travel ban that took effect this month. Some fear ICE's growing deportation arrests will be another blow. In Oregon, an Iranian man was detained by immigration agents this past week while driving to the gym. He was picked up roughly two weeks before he was scheduled for a check-in at ICE offices in Portland, according to court documents filed by his attorney, Michael Purcell. The man, identified in court filings as S.F., has lived in the U.S. for over 20 years, and his wife and two children are U.S. citizens. S.F. applied for asylum in the U.S. in the early 2000s, but his application was denied in 2002. His appeal failed but the government did not deport him and he continued to live in the country for decades, according to court documents. Due to 'changed conditions' in Iran, S.F. would face 'a vastly increased danger of persecution' if he were to be deported, Purcell wrote in his petition. 'These circumstances relate to the recent bombing by the United States of Iranian nuclear facilities, thus creating a de facto state of war between the United States and Iran.' S.F.'s long residency in the U.S., his conversion to Christianity and the fact that his wife and children are U.S. citizens 'sharply increase the possibility of his imprisonment in Iran, or torture or execution,' he said. Similarly, Kashanian's daughter said she is worried what will happen to her mother.
