Irish Man Detained By ICE Says He Fears For His Life

An Irish national living in the United States for almost 20 years said he fears for his life after being detained by immigration officers last year.

Seamus Culleton was taken into custody by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in September 2025 and placed in a detention center in El Paso, Texas, located about 4,000 kilometer away from his home in Boston, Mass.

Culleton, who is originally from Glenmore, County Kilkenny, told RTÉ’s "Liveline", “You don’t know what’s going to happen on a day-to-day basis. You don’t know if there’s going to be riots, you don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s a nightmare down here.”

Culleton said he is “in fear for my life here” and described the accommodation as “a bunch of temporary tents”, adding “there’s probably room for 1,000 detainees in each tent”.

“I believe there are five tents,” he said.

Culleton said he has not seen sunshine or breathed fresh air for 4 1/2 months.

“I have barely any outside time, no fresh air, no sunshine. We have two TVs on the wall, there are 72 detainees here in total. We get three meals a day, very very small meals - kid size meals, so everybody is hungry,” he said.

He also described the conditions there as “filthy” and said the toilets and showers are “completely nasty” and “very rarely cleaned”.

Culleton said that on September 9, 2025, he was finishing work and heading home when he noticed a car following him.

“After about two minutes I realized that there was a car following me, a Ford, a blue one, and it just looked suspicious because the guy driving had these deep blue reflective sunglasses,” he said.

“It followed for another couple of minutes and put on the blue lights. Then out of nowhere it seemed like there were seven or eight cars and a group of officers at the window of the van telling me to roll down the window. I complied with everything they said. They asked me if I had a Green Card, I said I didn’t, I said I was married to a citizen and that I had a marriage-based petition in place and I was just about to receive my Green Card and that I had a work permit to be here and work,” he added.

Despite that, Culleton said he was taken into custody.

“I didn’t really know what to think at the time, it was a very unsure moment. I didn’t really know what to think. I guess when I got thrown in the holding cell in Burlington, Massachusetts, that’s when it kind of sunk in, you know, that I might not be getting out of here."

Culleton made a direct appeal to Irish politicians to help him get out of the detention center in Texas.

“I would love for you guys to just try and get me out of here, do all you can, please. I mean I just want to get back to my life, we were so desperate to start a family. My own family in Ireland is also suffering, my mother especially, she is heartbroken that I'm here. She is constantly worrying and stressing about me, it’s not fair on her,” he requested.

Culleton said he would like Irish Prime Minister Taoiseach Micheál Martin to mention his case to President Donald Trump when he visits the Oval Office next month.