An Ojai area man has been deported to Vancouver, Canada, culminating a saga that included more than nine months at the Adelanto detention facility in San Bernardino County.
Clayton Herman, 55, said he was deported on Aug. 26 to his native Canada, a country he left permanently 24 years ago. The action culminates a well documented journey that included an immigration arrest in Camarillo, a release ordered by a federal magistrate judge who ruled Herman’s rights were being violated, a second arrest and a return to Adelanto ICE Processing Center.
In a phone interview from Vancouver, Herman said he had been trying to file motions to fight the deportation. The process was complicated because his presence at Adelanto meant he couldn’t file any actions
electronically, leaving traditional mail as his only option.
In the end, he said his removal became inevitable.
“I just gave up and let them do it,” he said.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Charles Rebel confirmed the deportation and said it came after Herman failed to deport voluntarily as ordered by a federal immigration judge on June 10.
“ICE will continue to execute the Trump administration’s enforcement priorities by identifying, arresting, and removing illegal aliens who violate U.S. law,” Rebel said in an email.
Born in Winnipeg, Herman immigrated in 2002 on a visitor’s visa and stayed long after the document expired. A resident of the Ojai area since about 2008, he was arrested in Montana four years ago for overstaying his visa.
He was placed in removal proceedings, released on his own recognizance and later required to wear a monitoring device. He was arrested again during a check-in appointment at a Camarillo Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in October 2025.
He spent eight months in detention at an Adelanto facility he called a hellhole, making his fight to stay in the country and his complaints about the detention site public in news stories in Ventura County and Canada. He filed a writ of habeas corpus in court, alleging the detention violated the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
It worked. Herman was released from Adelanto by Magistrate Judge Michael Kaufman who ruled the Canadian wasn’t given due process and was deemed a flight risk without enough evidence.
Herman returned home to Ojai and his cats Butters and Poquito. He wasn’t there long. He was arrested again on July 21 and was returned to Adelantowith federal officials citing the judge's order to voluntarily deport. Herman said he wasn't made aware of the voluntary deportation aspect of the order and thought it was a traditional removal order. He said his attempts to appeal were foiled by post office delays.
During that most recent stay, Herman said he was part of a protest in the facility triggered by the guards' contentions that detainees should not be called prisoners. Herman, who characterized the facility as a concentration camp, said he and other detainees wore a yellow Star of David to show there is no difference between detention and imprisonment. Jews were ordered to wear the stars during the Holocaust.
Herman said the only consolation to deportation is he's no longer at Adelanto. In earlier statements about Herman, Department of Homeland Security defended conditions at the site including food, medical care and access to phones.
"In fact, ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens," a spokesman said in message on July 29.
Herman has never lived in Vancouver but chose to be sent there because it’s among the closest Canadian cities to Ojai, making it easier for his cats and his belongings to be delivered by friends from Ojai.
For the time being, he is living with a man who knows people from Ojai, heard of Herman’s story and offered to give him a temporary home. Herman is looking for a place and trying to find work, maybe as an actor.
He said his situation still feels surreal.
“I did not want to leave Ventura County at all. It felt like being ripped away from home,” he said.
A Ventura friend, Richard McEwen, said plans are being made to deliver belongings when Herman has his own place. McEwen focused on Herman's long fight and the nine months spent in detention.
“Ultimately, I’m glad he’s free,” he said.
Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com.
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This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Ojai man deported to Vancouver after long immigration fight
