"Seamus Culleton was a model immigrant who had become the victim of a capricious and inept system, said his lawyer, Ogor Winnie Okoye. Originally from County Kilkenny, Culleton has lived in the US for more than 20 years, is married to a US citizen and runs a plastering business in the Boston area. On his way home from work on 9 September 2025 he was arrested in a random immigration sweep, according to Okoye, of BOS Legal Group in Massachusetts."
"After being held in ICE facilities near Boston and in Buffalo, New York, he was flown to a facility in El Paso, Texas, where he is sharing a cell with more than 70 men. Culleton said the detention centre was cold, damp and squalid and there were fights over insufficient food like a concentration camp, absolute hell, he told the Irish Times, which first reported the story on Monday."
"At a November hearing a judge approved his release on a $4,000 bond, which Smyth paid, but authorities continued to detain Culleton, initially without explanation. When his attorney appealed to a federal court, two ICE agents said that in Buffalo Culleton had signed documents agreeing to be deported. Culleton said he did not agree and that the signatures were not his."
Seamus Culleton has lived in the US for over 20 years, is married to a US citizen, and runs a Boston plastering business. He was arrested in a random immigration sweep and has been held five months in ICE detention across multiple facilities. He shares a cell with more than 70 men and describes the centre as cold, damp and squalid with fights over insufficient food. Culleton held a Massachusetts driving licence and a valid work permit from a green card application begun in April 2025. A judge approved release on a $4,000 bond paid by his wife, but authorities continued to detain him while ICE agents later said he had signed deportation documents that he denies.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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