Johnny Noviello moved from Canada to Daytona Beach when he was 10 years old. He grew up in Florida and became a lawful permanent resident.

On Monday, June 23, he died at the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami, after six weeks in immigration detention.

Noviello, 49, is the ninth person to die in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody since the beginning of the year, and the fourth to die in a Florida facility.

ICE did not provide a preliminary cause of death in a statement released on Thursday. The Miami Dade Medical Examiner’s office said that his official cause of death is currently under investigation. Authorities have ruled recent deaths in ICE custody in Florida as natural causes.

On Thursday morning, Noviello’s older brother went to their father’s house to deliver the news. Speaking with the Herald on the phone, Noviello’s father said that the last time he spoke with his son was a two-minute phone call weeks ago, after he was first placed in the federal facility.

“We are destroyed,” Angelo Noviello, 80, said.

Johnny Noviello was found unresponsive at 12:54 p.m, according to an ICE press release. Staff tried to resuscitate him and called 911, but less than an hour later, he was pronounced dead by Miami Fire Rescue Department.

“ICE remains committed to ensuring that all those in its custody reside in safe, secure, and humane environments,” the press release said. “At no time during detention is a detained illegal alien denied emergent care.”

Noviello had been in the United States legally since 1988, and got his green card in 1991. But in 2017, he and his father were both arrested and charged with selling drugs out of their auto shop. Court records show that Johnny Noviello was convicted in 2023 of selling opioids – oxycodone, hydromorphine and hydrocodone – in Daytona Beach.

Daniel M. Leising, a defense lawyer who represented Noviello in the case, said that he served about four months in county jail, was released on community control for a year and then placed on probation in February. He said that Noviello had no prior charges, and had not violated his probation.

On May 15, 2025, ICE arrested Noviello at the Florida Department of Corrections Probation office in Daytona Beach and placed in removal proceedings. The federal government can move to revoke people’s green cards and deport them for committing certain crimes, including drug trafficking and other serious felonies.

Noviello’s family had been repeatedly calling the facility to get in touch with him, his father said. They had recently reached out to Leising for help in trying to contact him when reporters notified the lawyer that he had passed away.

“This comes as an obvious shock,” Leising said.

The defense lawyer said that it is required in Florida that judges warn defendants that criminal charges and convictions can lead to deportation. But prior to Noviello, Leising said, ICE had not detained any of his clients in over 20 years of practicing law to his knowledge.

“He was just working, nothing out of the ordinary, no violations, nothing else,” Leising said. “There was nothing on my mind that would’ve created any circumstance where Johnny Noviello would have been a danger to anyone.”

His family said that Noviello had epilepsy and was on seizure medication. They had been working “painstakingly to make sure that he got his meds,” Leising said.

Under a February interagency contract between ICE and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the federal detention center in downtown Miami has been contracted to hold immigration detainees in four units.

In January and February, two immigrant detainees died after they were detained at the Krome North Service Processing Center, an ICE facility outside of Miami. The Medical Examiner’s office ruled that both died of natural causes – a stroke and “complications of schizoaffective disorder” – but a Miami Herald investigation found delayed medical treatment and questionable care.

Several months later, on April 25, a 44-year-old Haitian woman, Marie Ange Blaise, died at another nearby ICE detention center, the Broward Transitional Center.

The consulate of Canada was informed of Noviello’s death, according to the ICE press release. His family said they will soon begin planning his funeral.

As required by Congress, ICE must release a report on each death that occurs in the agency’s custody within 90 days. Deaths are published on the agency’s website.

Angelo Noviello said that his son was a “worker” – taking various jobs throughout his life and enjoying the movies, bowling, pool, and the beach in his free time. He called Johnny’s death “the biggest loss.”

“He was a really good person,” he said.

©2025 Miami Herald. Visit miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.