{"id":291984,"date":"2026-02-11T07:37:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T07:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/291984\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T07:37:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T07:37:07","slug":"irishman-detained-in-texas-overstayed-90-day-visitors-visa-issued-in-2009-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/291984\/","title":{"rendered":"Irishman detained in Texas overstayed 90-day visitor\u2019s visa issued in 2009 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seamus Culleton, the Irishman living in the United States who is being detained<\/a> by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement<\/a> (Ice) service, entered the US in 2009 as a tourist, according to a court ruling in Texas, where he is being held.<\/p>\n

Culleton, who is married to a US citizen, has a work permit and was applying for a marriage-based green card, was unsuccessful in an application brought before the district court in El Paso aimed at securing his release.<\/p>\n

In her ruling on January 23rd, Judge Kathleen Cardone noted that Culleton had entered the US under a visa waiver programme that allowed visits of not more than 90 days.<\/p>\n

Under the programme beneficiaries \u201cwaive any right … to contest other than on the basis of an application for asylum, any action for removal\u201d from the US.<\/p>\n

The waiver, she said, allows participants \u201cto enter the country expeditiously while streamlining their removal\u201d.<\/p>\n

The waiving of rights applied even when \u201can individual has a pending adjustment of status application on the basis of their marriage to a US citizen\u201d, the judge noted, citing a court precedent from 2009.<\/p>\n

During the case, initiated in November, Culleton, who runs a plastering business in the Boston area, confirmed he was not seeking asylum.<\/p>\n

According to the court ruling, he was arrested by Ice officers \u201cafter local police ran a licence plate check on his vehicle outside a Home Depot in Massachusetts\u201d.<\/p>\n

He was taken to a detention facility in Buffalo, New York, and from there to the Ice Enforcement and Removal and Operations (ERO) camp in El Paso, where he remains.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Several Irish citizens detained by Ice in US sought official help, says GovernmentOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

In October he requested a bond hearing, and an immigration judge ordered he be released on a $4,000 bond, which was paid by his wife, Tiffany Smyth.<\/p>\n

However, the decision was successfully challenged on the grounds that visa waiver recipients are not entitled to make bail bond applications. On November 14th, Ice served Culleton with an order of removal on the grounds that he violated the terms of his visa waiver.<\/p>\n

During the proceedings, a deportation officer (DO) named as Secore told the court he could remember serving Culleton with the key document in the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cDO Secore testified that he remembered Culleton because it was unusual for him to come across an Irish detainee,\u201d the judge said.<\/p>\n

The judge said Culleton could bring a fresh challenge to his detention if his detention was \u201cunreasonably prolonged\u201d, but the court had no reason to believe \u201cthat his removal to Ireland will not be promptly effectuated\u201d.<\/p>\n

He could bring a fresh application if he was still being detained six months after being served with the November 14th order of removal, she said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ice detention camp, where Irishman is held, under scrutiny for unexplained deathsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The judge criticised Ice for having at one stage wrongly classified Culleton as having come to the US on a non-immigrant visa, thereby allowing for the bail bond hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese mistakes muddy the record and undermine faith in the system,\u201d she said. \u201cUndoubtedly they also caused great agony for Culleton and his wife, who thought for a moment that he would be released on bond and thus permitted to adjust his status.\u201d<\/p>\n

Culleton\u2019s sister, Caroline Culleton, said many Irish people went to the US in 2009, when the Irish construction industry was in a slump.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe stayed there, and it materialised from there, and that\u2019s where we are now,\u201d she told The Irish Times.<\/p>\n

She said her brother got married in April 2025 and had been going out with his wife for a couple of years before that. His status had not been an issue until the re-election of president Donald Trump<\/a>, she said.<\/p>\n

Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security, insisted Culleton has received \u201cfull due process\u201d since his arrest.<\/p>\n

\u2018On September 9, 2025, Ice arrested Seamus Culleton, an illegal alien from Ireland. He entered the United States in 2009 under the visa waiver program, which allows you to stay in the US for 90 days without a visa,\u201d McLaughlin wrote on X. <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe failed to depart the US He received fully due process and was issues 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing in detention is a choice,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe encourage all illegal aliens to use the CBP Home app to take control of their departure. The United States is offering illegal aliens $2,600 and a free flight to self deport now. We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the US the right legal way to live the American dream. If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return.\u2019<\/p>\n

McLaughlin also rejected the Culleton\u2019s depiction of the Texas detention centre, the El Paso Camp East Montano, about which petitions for closure have been issued by several human rights groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cFalse,\u201d McLaughlin told CBS News in a statement.\u00a0\u201cIce has higher detention standards than most US prisons that hold actual US citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seamus Culleton, the Irishman living in the United States who is being detained by the Immigration and Customs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[969,66408,61,1629,60,43,90],"class_list":["post-291984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-donald-trump","tag-ice-us-immigration-and-customs-enforcement","tag-ie","tag-immigration","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}