Irish Man Held in ICE Custody 2,000 Miles from Boston Home Over 16-Year-Old Visa Overstay Calls Detention ‘Torture’

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An Irishman who overstayed his 90-day tourist visa more than 15 years ago has been held in a Texas immigration detention center for nearly five months instead of being deported, calling the experience a form of “torture.”

Seamus Culleton, married to an American woman, told Irish media that he holds a valid U.S. work permit and has a pending green card application when he was unexpectedly detained by immigration agents in Boston, where he owns and operates a construction company.

Culleton was handcuffed and flown over 2,000 miles from his home to a detention facility at Fort Bliss Army Base in Texas, where he claims he has been confined to the same “filthy” room throughout his stay.

Seamus Culleton and Tiffany Smith posing in a football stadium.

El Paso Camp East Montana, an ICE detention facility inside the Fort Bliss Army base in Texas.

Culleton said he was first stopped by federal agents on September 9 while returning items at a Home Depot in his van.

“I complied with everything they asked. They inquired if I had a green card, and I explained that I didn’t, but that I am married to a U.S. citizen and have a marriage-based green card petition pending. I also told them I had a valid work permit to live and work in the U.S.,” he said.

Seamus Culleton, a plasterer from Kilkenny, alleged that he was handcuffed and placed in a Texas detention facility despite holding a valid U.S. work permit and having a pending green card application. He said he thought he was in the clear, having received his work permit just a month earlier.

His wife, Tiffany Smyth, recalled the shocking phone call from her husband. “He rang me and said, ‘Don’t freak out.’ I asked what was wrong, and he said, ‘ICE picked me up,’” she told RTE.

Culleton was first held in a detention center in Burlington, Massachusetts, before being transferred to the Fort Bliss Army Base facility in Texas. As his case proceeded through the immigration courts, he claims he has been forced to endure harsh conditions that have left him fearing for his life.

“You don’t know what’s going to happen day to day. You don’t know if there will be riots or other dangers,” Culleton said, describing months locked in the same room.

He added: “I have barely any outside time, no fresh air, no sunshine. There are two TVs on the wall, 72 detainees here in total. We get three very small meals a day—kid-size portions—so everyone is hungry. The bathrooms are completely nasty and very rarely cleaned.”

Culleton’s sister, Caroline, described his detention as “the start of the whole nightmare. His whole life just ended that day; it was put on hold.”

Politicians in Ireland have pledged to raise complaints about Culleton’s case with the White House, highlighting growing concern over his prolonged detention.