An Irish national who has lived in the United States for nearly two decades has said he fears for his safety after being detained by immigration authorities last year, reports RTE.
Seamus Culleton, a native of Glenmore in Co Kilkenny, was detained by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers last September, as first reported by the Irish Times, and transferred to a detention facility in Texas almost 4,000km from his home in Boston, reports RTE.
Speaking from the detention centre in El Paso on RTÉ’s Liveline, he said: “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,” reports RTE.
Mr Culleton said he is “in fear for my life here”.
He described the accommodation as “a bunch of temporary tents”, adding “there’s probably room for 1,000 detainees in each tent”, reports RTE.
“I believe there are five tents,” he said, reports RTE.
Mr Culleton said he has no meaningful quality of life and has been confined to the same room for four and a half 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, reports RTE.
Mr Culleton said conditions in the facility are “filthy” and that the toilets and showers are “completely nasty” and “very rarely cleaned”.
He said that on 9 September last year, after finishing work, he went to a Home Depot store to return items from his van before heading home.
“After about two minutes I realised 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, reports RTE.
“It followed for another couple of minutes and sure enough put on the blue lights and then out of nowhere it seemed like there were seven or eight cars and a bunch of officers at the window of the van, telling me to roll down the window,” reports RTE.
“And I did, 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,” reports RTE.
Mr Culleton said none of this appeared to matter, and officers handcuffed him and took him away.
He said he had received his work permit only “a month or so earlier”, and believed he was legally entitled to remain, reports RTE.
“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,” reports RTE.
He said officials later attempted to have him sign deportation papers, but he refused.
Mr Culleton made a direct appeal to Irish politicians to assist in securing his release from detention in Texas, reports RTE.
“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 in here. She is constantly worrying and stressing about me, it’s not fair on her. Just do as much as you can to try and get me out of here, please,” reports RTE.
Mr Culleton said he hopes Taoiseach Micheál Martin will raise his case with President Donald Trump during a planned Oval Office visit next month.
“I’ll take any help I can get now at this point,” reports RTE.
Mr Culleton said he has been detained for five months, spending four and a half months locked in the same room, and does not know how much more he can endure.
“It’s just a torture, I just don’t know how much more I can take,” reports RTE.
Speaking on the same programme, his wife Tiffany Smyth, who lives in Boston, described the moment last September when her husband contacted her to say he had been detained.
“He rang me and he said ‘don’t freak out’, I said ‘what is wrong?’ and he said ‘ICE picked me up’,” reports RTE.
“They let him make one phone call, it was probably under a minute phone call … I just asked if he was okay and if he knew where he was going and he said ‘no, they’re not telling me anything’,” reports RTE.
Ms Smyth said she did not know for days whether her husband had been deported, returned to Ireland, or was safe.
She said he spent a week in New York before being transferred again, and she only learned he was in Texas by using an online ICE detainee tracking system, reports RTE.
Ms Smyth said she has not been able to visit him, but booked flights and accommodation to attend his most recent court date on 9 January.
She said the hearing was postponed the day before her departure, leaving her out of pocket for the flight and hotel, reports RTE.
‘His whole life just ended that day’, reports RTE.
Speaking on RTÉ’s News At One, his sister Caroline said Mr Culleton has no criminal convictions in Ireland or the US and the family does not know why he was detained.
She said his arrest marked “the start of the whole nightmare. His whole life just ended that day, it was put on hold,” reports RTE.
“To this day we still don’t know why he was picked up by ICE,” reports RTE.
“At that point, he had a work permit but he didn’t have his Green Card. He had the work permit as part of his Green Card application, which was 99% processed. His last interview was to be held just before he was picked up,” reports RTE.
“That application is still open because they want to complete that,” Caroline said, reports RTE.
TDs call for action to support Culleton, reports RTE.
Fianna Fáil TD for Carlow-Kilkenny John McGuinness said “action is required now” in Mr Culleton’s case.
He said he has briefed the Taoiseach’s office and urged that the issue be raised immediately rather than waiting for the St Patrick’s Day visit, reports RTE.
“The wheels are turning, they have to make contact through foreign affairs first. I’ll be asking for an immediate response in terms of contacting the White House,” reports RTE.
Social Democrats Senator Patricia Stephenson said the situation is devastating for the Culleton family and that meaningful action is required.
She said the escalation represents a serious threat to Irish citizens and questioned whether detainees can be assured of humane treatment and due process under US law, reports RTE.
Speaking on RTE’s Drivetime, she said: “It’s an actual violation of Seamus’ human rights what’s happening in terms of the torturous conditions,” reports RTE.
“What is the coalition doing for his case specifically but also for all of the other Irish citizens living their lives in the US, those who are detained but those who are living in fear that they might be,” reports RTE.
Labour TD Duncan Smith also voiced grave concern about Irish citizens held by ICE and called on Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee to intervene.
“Mr Culleton’s testimony is absolutely harrowing, and marries with what immigration lawyers on the ground tell us about the very real and disturbing conditions that Irish citizens are facing inside ICE detention facilities,” reports RTE.
“This Government needs to stand up for Irish citizens abroad. The minister must seek any and all information from the United States Department of Homeland Security to establish how many Irish citizens are currently detained,” reports RTE.
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