Featured Image Credit: CBS Boston
Topics: Immigration, US News, World News, Ireland
Ellie Kemp
A man who's spent five months and counting in an ICE detention center has described the alleged horrific conditions he's been living in.
Seamus Culleton, from County Kilkenny, Ireland, has been living in the US for nearly 20 years and is married to American citizen Tiffany Smyth.
But on September 9 2025, he was apprehended and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents (ICE) while driving home from finishing work.
When asked if he had a green card, Seamus told officers he was due to receive one but had a work permit and was married to an American.
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This didn't stop him from getting detained, put in a Massachusetts holding cell before being transported to New York and eventually a center in El Paso, Texas.
Seamus, who has lived in Boston for more than 15 years and runs a construction company, likened the facility to 'a modern-day concentration camp', Sky News reports.
He told RTE it is 'a nightmare down here' and that he is 'in fear for his life'.
Seamus described the alleged conditions as 'filthy' and said the toilets and showers are 'completely nasty' and 'very rarely cleaned'.
"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," he said.
"We get three meals a day, very very small meals - kid size meals, so everybody is hungry."
The Irishman described living in 'tent' the size of a '16ft by 35ft room with no ceiling', with two rows of bunk beds on either side and a long table down the middle.
He also said that illnesses are rife among detainees.
"It's just torture. I don't know how much more I can take. I just want to get back to my wife. We're so desperate to start a family," Seamus said.
His wife Tiffany, who hasn't seen her husband for months but has spoken to him on the phone, told CBS Boston how Seamus' personality has changed since being locked up.
She said: "He’s lost a lot of weight. You know, he just… Seamus was always a guy - he’s always making a joke, no matter what situation.
"He’s always goofing around. And that’s just… I don’t know. That’s gone, you know?"
US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told CNN that Seamus had failed to leave the US after initially entering on a visa waiver program which allowed a 90-day stay.
McLaughlin added that Seamus was arrested on September 9 and 'received full due process and was issued 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," she said, before adding: "A pending green card application and work authorization does not give someone legal status to be in our country."
UNILAD has contacted ICE for comment.