ICE detained Irish national Seamus Culleton, then blocked his green-card interview and reversed his court-approved bond during prolonged detention

On September 9, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Seamus Culleton, an Irish citizen who had lived in the Boston area since 2009, after local police ran his license plate outside a Home Depot in Saugus, Massachusetts. ICE held him briefly in New York before transferring him to Camp East Montana, a tent detention facility on the Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso, Texas — inside the Fifth Circuit, where the administration has been routing detainees from jurisdictions such as Massachusetts because it is harder for immigrants to win bond there. Culleton had overstayed a Visa Waiver Program entry, but under a longstanding DHS policy, "immediate relatives" of U.S. citizens without a removal order or criminal record may apply for a green card while present; Culleton, married to a U.S. citizen, had done so and has no criminal record.

An immigration judge granted Culleton release on a $4,000 bond on October 6, 2025, and his wife paid it. DHS then moved for reconsideration, and the bond was denied on the ground that immigration judges lack jurisdiction to grant bond to Visa Waiver Program entrants under a 2009 Board of Immigration Appeals precedent. ICE served Culleton a final administrative removal order on November 14, 2025. Throughout his detention, ICE's custody also caused Culleton to miss at least two USCIS interviews needed to confirm the marriage-based green card application he had filed before his arrest — a separate proceeding the removal case did not resolve.

Culleton disputed that he had validly received or signed the notice initiating his removal and filed a habeas corpus petition seeking release or a bond hearing. A federal district court in El Paso held an evidentiary hearing in January 2026 at which Culleton and the ICE officers who processed him testified; the court found Culleton had in fact signed the notice and, because Visa Waiver Program entrants waive the right to contest removal on any ground but asylum, denied his petition on January 23, 2026. Asked about the case, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Culleton had "received full due process" and had been ordered removed by a judge.

By early February 2026, Culleton had been detained for nearly five months without resolution of his own asserted eligibility for lawful status — unable to attend the interview that would confirm it, and unable to secure release on the bond a judge had already approved.

Updates

2026-02-13 — First Circuit granted a temporary stay of Culleton's deportation [4, 5]

After Culleton's attorneys filed a petition for review of his removal order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued a 10-business-day stay of removal, pausing his deportation while he remained in ICE custody in El Paso.

2026-03-01 — First Circuit extended the removal stay, denied relief on detention [4]

Chief Judge David Barron extended the stay of removal pending resolution of Culleton's petition for review, but did not grant relief related to his continued detention.

2026-08 — Culleton remained in ICE detention with his case still in litigation [6]

Nearly a year after his arrest, Culleton's attorney said the case remained in active litigation and that he was still held at the Texas facility.