AN OFFICIAL IN the Trump administration has said that the Irishman being detained by ICE, Seamus Culleton, is an “illegal alien” who “failed to depart” the US after his visa expired. 

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary in the US Department of Homeland Security, wrote a lengthy post on X in which she said that Culleton “received full due process and was issued a final deportation order from a federal judge”. 

She wrote that Culleton entered the States in 2009 under a visa waiver programme that only allows you to stay there for 90 days without a further visa. 

McLaughlin said that he was offered the chance to be “instantly removed to Ireland” but that he “chose to stay in ICE custody” and took steps to “remain in detention”. 

She said that being in detention “is a choice” and that the department encourages people in this position to “take control of their departure”. 

McLaughlin added that the US is offering “illegal aliens” $2,600 (€2,000) and a free flight to self-deport. 

Seamus Culleton received full due process and was issued a final deportation order from a federal judge.

On September 9, 2025, ICE arrested Seamus Culleton, an illegal alien from Ireland. He entered the United States in 2009 under the visa waiver program, which allows you to… https://t.co/EebjCaRBDK

— Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) February 10, 2026

Culleton, who is originally from Kilkenny, has lived in the US for 20 years. He has a valid work permit and drivers’ licence and is married to a US citizen. 

He unsuccessfully challenged his detention last month, with a judge ruling that he remains subject to a final order of removal from the US. 

Court documents

According to court documents related to his case, he was arrested by ICE last September when police checked the licence plate on his car outside a Home Depot shop in Massachusetts. He was in the process of attaining a green card. 

He was taken to a detention facility in Buffalo, New York before being moved to the ICE Enforcement and Removal and Operations (ERO) camp in El Paso, Texas, where he remains detained.

The court documents state that Culleton legally entered the US in 2009 under a visa waiver programme that allowed people from designated countries to visit for up to 90 days.

Judge Kathleen Cardone said that people who enter the US under the programme “waive any right . . . to contest, other than on the basis of an application for asylum, any action for removal of the alien”.

The waiver allows participants “to enter the country expeditiously while streamlining their removal,” she said.

In October, Culleton requested a bond hearing and an immigration judge ordered that he be released on a $4,000 (€3,000) bond, which was paid by his wife.

However, this was successfully challenged by the Department of Homeland Security, with the immigration judge denying bond because it “lacked jurisdiction” to grant it to people who entered the US under the waiver programme.

On 14 November, ICE served Culleton with an order of removal on the grounds that he violated the terms of his visa waiver. Culleton then asked the court to release him or order a bond hearing before an immigration judge.

During the proceedings, the court heard that a key document at issue was a ‘Notice of Intent to Issue a Final Administrative Order’, which is served to notify a person of the intent to remove them and allows them time to respond. 

The document purported to show Culleton’s handwritten signature, dated 11 September 2025, and his statement that he only wished to contest his removal because “I’m married to a citizen and have a work permit.” Culleton claimed he never signed the notice.

The notice was signed by a deportation officer named as Secore on the same day, who testified that he remembered Culleton “because it was unusual for him to come across an Irish detainee”.

He testified that he remembered serving the notice on Culleton, but not watching him sign it. He said that if an individual does not want to sign the document, he usually writes “refused to sign” on it.

The court found that Culleton did sign the notice and remains subject to a final administrative order of removal.

The judge said Culleton can file a fresh application if his detention becomes “unreasonably prolonged” beyond six months of being served with the order of removal, adding that the court has no reason to believe “that his removal to Ireland will not be promptly effectuated”.

The judge also admonished ICE for a number of “procedural irregularities”, including wrongfully stating that Culleton had gone to the US under a non-immigrant visa, which then allowed for a bond hearing.

“These mistakes muddy the record and undermine faith in the system. Undoubtedly, they also caused agony for Culleton and his wife, who thought for a moment that he would be released on bond and thus permitted to adjust his status,” the judge said.

“Nonetheless, for reasons discussed above, this court is without authority to provide Culleton with any relief.”

Government ‘concerned about’ case

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that the Irish government is “consistently” raising Culleton’s case with US Homeland Security. 

Martin told reporters yesterday: “I was briefed on this case yesterday, we, and the officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and the embassies, are dealing with government security and with ICE in respect of the case and we are concerned about it.”

He further said that the government didn’t want to take any further action that could impact Culleton’s application for permanent status in the US. 

Yesterday, while appearing on RTÉ’s Liveline, Culleton appealed to the Irish government for help to remove him from an ICE detention camp in El Paso, Texas.

Culleton said he would like the Taoiseach to raise his situation with US president Donald Trump on his St Patrick’s Day visit to the US.

“Absolutely I would. If you have Donald Trump’s ear, why not? I’ll take any help I can get now at this point,” he said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee has said that the government is aware of a “very small number of cases” of Irish nationals who are also in US detention centres. 

The Taoiseach told the Dáil later that this group consists of around five to six people. 

With reporting from Jane Moore