Mr Culleton is originally from Co Kilkenny, but has been living in the US for almost 20 years
Seamus Culleton said he would like Taoiseach Micheál Martin to raise his case with US president Donald Trump during his meeting at the White House in March for St Patrick’s Day.
Mr Culleton is originally from Co Kilkenny, but has been living in the US for almost 20 years, has a valid work permit and is married to a US citizen.
He was driving home after finishing work when he was detained by ICE agents last September.
He said he noticed a man with blue sunglasses was driving the car and then several others appeared around him.
I’ve been locked in the same room now for four-and-a-half months
Mr Culleton said he was asked if he had a green card and he said he did not, but said he was married to a US citizen, had a work permit and was due to receive his green card.
Officers detained him and initially put him into a holding cell in Massachusetts before he was taken to New York then to the detention centre in El Paso in Texas, thousands of kilometres from his home.
Mr Culleton claimed that ICE agents had tried to get him to sign deportation papers, which he said he “absolutely” did not.
He described the detention centre in El Paso as “horrible”, adding there was little sanitation, limited food and that it was “tough to stay positive”.
He said he was in fear of his life from the security firm in charge, whom he said were “capable of anything”, and said that it is not easy to predict what will happen.
Mr Culleton said there were 72 people in a tent with no ceiling, with two rows of bunk beds on either side and a long table down the middle.
Tiffany Smyth and Seamus Culleton
He described the conditions at the camp as “filthy”, the toilets and showers as “nasty” and said illnesses were rife among those being detained.
“We get three meals a day – very small meals, kid-size meals. It’s very hard to sleep at night with all the noise. So everybody’s hungry, everybody’s tired,” he told RTÉ Radio One’s Liveline on the phone from the detention facility.
“We’ve got no options to get extra food or anything like that, and the conditions here are filthy, the toilets, the showers, completely nasty, very rarely cleaned. There are no sanitation products. We’re often without hygiene products, shampoo and soap.”
He said there was competition for food and said he had “definitely” lost weight.
“There is no real quality of life here. I’ve been locked in the same room now for four and a half months,” Mr Culleton said.
“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.”
He said he would like Taoiseach Micheál Martin to bring up his case with Donald Trump during his St Patrick’s Day visit to the Oval Office.
Mr Culleton said his ordeal had been an “absolute torture”.
“I’d be so grateful if we could just end this ASAP. I’ve been detained now for five months, locked in the same room for four and a half of those months. It’s just torture. I don’t know how much more I can take,” he said.
“I just want to get back to my wife. We’re so desperate to start a family, my own family at home in Ireland is all suffering.
“My mother, especially, she’s heartbroken that I’m in here. I talk to her most days. She’s just heartbroken over the whole situation.
“I don’t want her health to get any worse. She’s constantly worrying and stressing about me. It’s not fair on her. Just do as much as you can to try to get me out of here.”
Mr Culleton, who has been in contact with the Irish consulate in Austin, Texas, said he is currently in “limbo”, as he doesn’t know what’s next for him.
“They’re known to hold people for long periods down here before deporting them, and especially me, because I have accused the ICE agents of signing my name without any real evidence to back it up.”
“They may just hold me for months and months as punishment,” he said.
Irishman Seamus Culleton with his American wife Tiffany Smyth
News in 90 Seconds – 9th February 2026
On the same programme, Mr Culleton’s American wife, Tiffany, described the “shock” of his detention and the “awful” experience of trying to maintain contact with him. She said she did not hear from him for almost a week after an initial phone call following his arrest, and said she “did not know if he was deported” and “had no idea if he was safe”.
Asked if she had been allowed to visit her husband, she said ICE officially allows visits, but it is “almost impossible to set one up”. She said she had booked flights from Massachusetts to Texas to attend one of Mr Culleton’s court dates, but the hearing was moved on the day before her journey.
“He’s a good man. I don’t think anyone deserves this, but Seamus definitely doesn’t deserve this,” she said.
Earlier, Mr Culleton’s sister, Caroline, said his family still does not know why he was detained.
“There are no words. I mean the way they’re being kept and they’re locked up, and he’s only been allowed out a couple of times,” she said.
“They don’t see the sunlight. They don’t get out. Their health deteriorates.”
She said he has lost an “awful lot of weight”, adding that he has sores, infections and hair loss.
She told the News at One programme that his ongoing detention was “heartbreaking for our mother” and his extended family.
A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs told the Irish Independent that Minister Helen McEntee is “aware of this case”.
“Consular assistance is being provided to the citizen involved and his family by our Consulate General in Austin, Texas, and our Consular Unit in Dublin,” they said.
“Our Embassy in Washington DC is also engaging directly with the Department of Homeland Security at a senior level in relation to this case,” they added.