An Irishman currently detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has described the facilities as “like a modern day concentration camp”.
Seamus Culleton, originally from Co Kilkenny, has resided in the US for nearly two decades and is married to an American citizen.
He was apprehended by ICE agents in September 2025 while driving home from work, recalling how he first noticed a man in blue sunglasses before other agents appeared.
Mr Culleton is now appealing for Irish premier Micheal Martin to raise his case directly with US President Donald Trump during their scheduled meeting at the White House in March.
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.
He was detained and initially put into a holding cell in Massachusetts, before being taken to New York, then and then to the detention centre in El Paso in Texas.
He 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”, where there is little sanitation, limited food and where it was “tough to stay positive”.
He said he was in fear of his life from the security firm in charge, who he said were “capable of anything”, and said that it is not easy to predict what will happen.
He said there were 72 people in a tent the size of 16ft by 35ft room with no ceiling, with two rows of bunk beds on either side and a long table down the middle.
He described the conditions at the camp as “filthy”, the toilets and showers as “nasty”, and that illnesses are rife among those being detained.
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,” he told RTE’s Liveline programme.
“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.
“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 the detention centre was a psychological and physical “torture” and was also difficult for his mother.
“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 also 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.”
On the same programme, Mr Culleton’s wife, Tiffany, described the “shock” of his detention and the “awful” experience of trying to maintain contact with him in the intervening period.
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 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.
She said she had attempted to reach senators and Mr Trump about the case but had received no response.
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.
“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.
In a statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said: “Minister McEntee is aware of this case and of the consular assistance being provided to the citizen involved, and his family, by our Consulate General in Austin, Texas, and our consular unit in Dublin.
“Our embassy in Washington DC is also engaging directly with the Department of Homeland Security at a senior level in relation to this case.”
