An Irish man who has been in US immigration detention for five months has mentioned he fears for his life and is confined in appalling situations, as worldwide scrutiny grows over the remedy of immigrants held by US authorities.
Seamus Culleton, initially from the Irish county of Kilkenny, has been held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Texas since early September.
Culleton, who has lived in Boston for greater than 15 years and runs a building firm, told Irish broadcaster RTE that he was taken by ICE officers on his approach residence from Home Depot.
Culleton mentioned that he instructed ICE authorities that he is married to a US citizen, is in the method of making use of for a inexperienced card, had no legal document and had a legitimate work allow.
“As far as I know I was covered,” he mentioned, talking from an ICE facility in El Paso, Texas the place he is at present detained. “None of that mattered; they cuffed me and took me away,” he mentioned.
In an announcement to NCS, US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin mentioned that Culleton had entered the US in 2009 beneath the visa waiver program which allowed a 90-day keep, then did not depart.
Culleton mentioned that he is being held in a big, overcrowded room with greater than 70 different males and sleeping beneath fixed synthetic lighting in chilly and damp situations.
Detainees are receiving restricted meals, have restricted entry to medical care and are not often allowed exterior, he instructed RTE.
“I’ve been locked in the same room now for four and a half months. I’ve had barely any outside time. No fresh air. No sunshine. I could probably count on both hands the amount of times I’ve been outside,” Culleton mentioned, including: “I’m just locked in this room all day every day.”
Culleton described the situations inside the ability, hundreds of miles away from his residence in Boston, as “filthy,” calling it a “nightmare.”“I’m in fear for my life down here, honestly,” he mentioned.
McLaughlin mentioned that after his arrest on September 9, Culleton “received full due process and was issued a final order of removal by an immigration judge on September 10, 2025. He was offered the chance to instantly be removed to Ireland but chose to stay in ICE custody, in fact he took affirmative steps to remain in detention.”
“A pending green card application and work authorization does not give someone legal status to be in our country,” McLaughlin mentioned.
“These claim(s) that there are subprime conditions at ICE facilities are FALSE,” the assertion added.
NCS has additionally reached out to ICE, which falls beneath DHS, for remark.
Culleton mentioned ICE officers initially tried to influence him to signal paperwork agreeing to his deportation, however that he refused, selecting as an alternative to combat his case primarily based on his pending inexperienced card software by his spouse, Tiffany Smyth.
Smyth mentioned the shock of her husband’s sudden detention was “awful,” and spoke of the problem of navigating the immigration system, describing it as opaque and stacked towards households.
Smyth instructed RTE that she went almost every week with out realizing the place he was or whether or not he was protected.
“I didn’t know if he got deported, I didn’t know if he was back in Ireland. I had no idea if he was safe… And there’s no one that helps you to get this information,” she mentioned.
“There’s a tracker online that you can track somebody that’s in ICE custody, so that’s what I did, and then I saw he was moved to El Paso, Texas,” Smyth mentioned, including that she hasn’t been in a position to go to her husband but.
“They say that visits are feasible, but when you try to set one up it’s almost impossible,” she mentioned.
Culleton’s case has prompted outrage in Ireland and the Irish authorities has publicly addressed it.
Spokespeople from each the Department of Foreign Affairs and the workplace of the prime minister, or Taoiseach, instructed NCS that they’re conscious of the case, that consular help is being supplied and that the Irish Embassy in Washington, DC, is “engaging directly” with the Department of Homeland Security.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin told reporters Tuesday: “Every country has migration policies, but those ICE facilities are a concern.”
While Irish nationals stay a small minority inside ICE detention, Irish government figures present a 330% enhance final yr in the variety of its residents looking for consular help associated to deportation by US immigration enforcement, to 65.
Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee told reporters Tuesday that she is conscious of lower than a dozen related instances of Irish residents being detained at the moment.
His case additionally lays naked a US immigration system that routinely topics migrants to extended detention beneath harsh conditions – one which human rights organizations say overwhelmingly ensnares Black and brown individuals removed from the general public highlight.
Immigration advocacy teams have mentioned there are longstanding racial disparities in US immigration enforcement that end result in mistreatment of migrants from Latin America, the Caribbean and African nations.
ICE is at present holding round 70,000 individuals in custody, the best quantity because the company’s founding and considerably above typical ranges in prior administrations. The overwhelming majority of these detainees – 74%– don’t have any legal conviction, in line with the newest information.