Canceco was detained at San Diego's San Ysidro border crossing Thursday after agents searched his vehicle and said they found human chorionic gonadotropin, which is illegal without a prescription, said his attorney, Gregory Emerson.
Emerson declined to say if Canseco -- who admitted to using steroids in a 2005 book that also alleged steroid use by other baseball players -- had the drug, which is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency for use in males. The drug helps restore production of testosterone lost in steroid users.
The New York Daily News earlier reported the stop.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Virginia Kice, said Canseco was ordered to appear in federal court in San Diego "related to an alleged smuggling violation" Thursday at a U.S. border crossing. She declined to elaborate.
Canseco has not been charged with a crime, Kice said. If he were to be charged, it would happen at his court appearance.
Emerson said Canseco was ordered to appear in court Tuesday.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection released Canseco after he agreed to allow ICE agents to search his Los Angeles-area home, Emerson said. About 10 ICE agents searched the home in the attorney's presence Friday as Canseco was returning from San Diego.
"They found nothing. They took nothing," Emerson said.
Authorities held Canseco for 9½ hours at the crossing across the border from Tijuana, Mexico, Emerson said.
"They said the only way Jose would be permitted to leave would be is if they allowed him to search his home," Emerson said. "If he had just even a little bit of (the drug), it doesn't seem it was worthy of the kind of treatment, which was really pretty harsh."
A CBP spokesman, Vince Bond, declined to comment.
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