A Winnipeg-born man says a mail delay is the reason he's back in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, just five weeks after a federal judge in California ordered his immediate release.

Now, Clayton Herman says he must wait for the proper paperwork from both American and Canadian officials to be eligible to enter Canada should he be ordered to deport. 

"This is just surreally horrible," Herman told CBC on a video call from inside the Adelanto, Calif., ICE detention facility on July 22, the day after he was taken back into custody.

"It's just a lot of duress to be under."

Herman — who has not been convicted of a criminal offence — was put in shackles inside an ICE office on July 21, when he went for a routine check-in as his case winds its way through the U.S. immigration system.

Just like last time, he doesn't know how long this lockup will last.

Herman walked free from the privately run ICE facility — which he called a "vile, wretched hellhole" — in mid-June. He had been taken into custody in October 2025 after he was accused of violating his supervision conditions based on readings from he called a "glitchy" location monitoring device.

Herman is in violation of American immigration laws because, while he entered the U.S. legally through a port of entry 20 years ago, he has long overstayed his visa. He had reported regularly in person to ICE since 2022, as he waited for his visa overstay case to be heard in court.

Federal Court Judge Michael Kaufman agreed the monitoring device was problematic when he ordered Herman's immediate release last month, and ruled that not giving him a chance to contest the reasons for his detention violated his right to due process.  

Herman said his latest detention is because a court document related to his appeal of a deportation order wasn't filed on time because of a mail delay.

Herman says he sent the documents by priority mail and they should have arrived by the required due date, but for some reason they did not. CBC has viewed the tracking info showing that the priority mail arrived late.

Because the document was filed late, an ICE agent told him they now had the right to detain him, he said.

'Brazen cruelty': prof

Herman is one of more than 400,000 people who have been detained by ICE since President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, according to a CBC analysis of figures obtained by a U.S. group called the Deportation Data Project, which gets its numbers from Freedom of Information requests.

The sheer number of detentions is both concerning and infuriating, says Queen's University law professor Sharry Aiken, who believes "brazen cruelty" against detainees under Trump's administration has been taken to "whole new level."

"There's no worse human rights deprivation, short of torture and death, than the deprivation of liberty that comes with wrongful detention," said Aiken.

In Herman's case, "it sounds like he's being detained again because ICE didn't receive a form from him on time. That's an administrative process, and it is pretty shocking that it's led to him being detained again," she said.

Aiken would like to see a firm cap on the length that anybody can be detained on immigration grounds, remembering that this is not a criminal sentence.

Global Affairs Canada said it is aware of "multiple cases" of Canadians in ICE detention, without providing specific numbers. An emailed statement from the department said consular officials attempt to contact detainees to help facilitate a return to Canada when appropriate.

ICE did not respond to a request for comment.

Came out a changed man: friend

Herman does not know how long it will take to get out of Adelanto, but assumes it will be via deportation.

"Maybe they'll see me as such a nuisance, they want to get rid of me. Maybe they'll just want to torture me for a while and keep me here for some indefinite period of time," Herman said. 

Complicating matters is that he must now depend on Global Affairs Canada and ICE to issue paperwork required to deport him back to Canada, he said.

Consular officials told him he needs certain travel documents to get on a flight back to Canada, because he must prove he is a Canadian citizen before being allowed to board.

He said while he's in detention, he will help other detainees file habeas corpus requests — a legal mechanism that allows people who have been detained to challenge their imprisonment in court, and the procedure that freed him back in June. 

Herman, who said he was served mouldy bread and "really awful mystery lunch meat" during his first detention in Adelanto, said the food in the new wing where he's now being held is slightly more palatable, but still "trash."

He's been eating out of nervousness, which was apparent during his video call with CBC, as he kept checking over his shoulder.

"[I] just can't help it, you know, when you're in a new place with 80 dudes," Herman said.

Sherry Owens, a friend of Herman's, drove him to his routine ICE check-in meeting last week. She had no idea she would leave without him.

"I was really kind of meditating on him coming out and saying, 'Let's get out of here. Let's go have a champagne breakfast somewhere,'" she said.

When an ICE agent came out and told her Herman was going back to Adelanto, she burst into tears.

"I was devastated. I was in disbelief," Owens said. "It's just so wrong."

Herman is a valued member in their community, she said. A local newspaper, the Ojai Valley News, said Herman was described by a friend as "very charismatic" and was known for the weekly dinner parties he and his late wife threw.

But Owens said Herman came out of detention a changed man from the trauma he endured, appearing distracted or distant at social gatherings and often opting to be alone. 

"A lot of time was just spent in his little one room with his cats, just cuddling," Owens said." I think they bring him … more relief than any human can at this point." 

Owens is helping to care for Herman's cats, Poquito and Butters, while he's in detention, and will make sure they're reunited with their "daddy" should he be deported to Canada. 

As for Herman, he has a message for Global Affairs Canada.

"I just hope they just keep me in mind. Don't forget about me."

Canadian who was held in ICE facility for months back in detention despite judge's ruling rights were violated