An Irish man held by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for five months has described conditions in a Texas detention centre as 'torture' and pleaded with the Irish government to intervene. Seamus Culleton, 42, originally from County Kilkenny, was arrested in September 2025 despite having a valid work permit and no criminal record.
Culleton, who runs a plastering business in Boston, entered the US in 2009 on a visa waiver programme and overstayed the 90-day limit. After marrying a US citizen, Tiffany Smyth, he applied for lawful permanent residence and obtained a statutory exemption allowing him to work. His lawyer, Ogor Winnie Okoye, said the detention prevented him from attending a final interview for his green card in October.
Speaking to RTÉ radio from the El Paso facility, Culleton said he feared for his life, not from other inmates but from staff. 'They’re capable of anything,' he said. He described being locked in a room with 71 other detainees in squalid conditions with insufficient food and negligible time outdoors. 'It’s an absolute torture, psychological and physical torture,' he added.
Culleton appealed to Taoiseach Micheál Martin to raise his case with President Donald Trump during his St Patrick’s Day visit to the White House next month. 'Just do as much as you can to try and get me out of here,' he said. Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed it was providing consular assistance, and the taoiseach expressed concern but did not say whether he would raise the matter with Trump.
The case could complicate Dublin’s efforts to avoid friction with the White House, which has criticised Ireland over corporate tax, trade and immigration. Meanwhile, figures released this week showed that less than 14% of nearly 400,000 immigrants arrested by ICE in Trump’s second term had violent criminal convictions, undermining the administration’s claim to target serious offenders.
