An Irishman who has lived in the US for nearly 20 years has been detained by US immigration officials for almost five months despite insisting he has a valid US work permit and a pending green card case as the spouse of a US citizen. Seamus Culleton said he fears for his life because of the conditions in the detention center where he is being held in Texas.

Seamus Culleton, who lived in Boston, is in custody Camp El Paso Eastern MontanaICE detention facility inside the Fort Bliss military base in Texas, according to the agency’s detainer tracking system. Speaking to Irish state broadcaster RTÉ in a telephone interview on Monday from the detention centre, Culleton described life in the camp as a “nightmare”.

“You don’t know what’s going to happen from day to day. You don’t know if there’s going to be a riot, you don’t know what’s going to happen,” he told RTÉ. He characterized the detention facilities as “a bunch of temporary tents.”

Culleton said he has rarely been outside in the five months since his arrest.

“I hardly have time outside, no fresh air, no sun. We have two TVs on the wall. There are 72 prisoners here in total. We get three meals a day, very very small meals – children’s meals, so everyone is hungry,” he said.

Culleton called the conditions “filthy” and said the toilets and showers were “absolutely disgusting” and were “very rarely cleaned”.

The US Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, denied the claims about conditions at the Texas facility on Tuesday, and DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin told CBS News in a statement that Culleton’s claims were “FALSE. ICE has higher detention standards than most US prisons that hold actual US citizens.”

McLaughlin confirmed that ICE agents arrested Culleton on September 9, 2025, calling him an “illegal alien from Ireland” who entered the US in 2009 under the tourist visa waiver program but then failed to leave the US after the 90 days allowed.

“He received full due process and was issued a final order of removal by an immigration judge on September 10, 2025,” McLaughlin said. “He was offered the chance to be immediately transferred to Ireland, but chose to remain in ICE custody… A pending green card application and work permit does not give someone legal status to be in our country.”

Under U.S. law, DHS can arrest people with pending immigration claims if they do not have underlying permanent immigration status, even if they have not been convicted of crimes, but under previous administrations, non-criminals with valid pending claims were rarely arrested, and officials would usually let a green card case end.

McLaughlin said Culleton had been offered the chance to be sent to Ireland “immediately”. She argued that “he chose to remain in ICE custody, he actually took affirmative steps to remain in custody.”

Culleton said he was going through the legal process to obtain lawful permanent residency or a green card, and had a valid U.S. work permit when he was arrested. Spouses of US citizens can obtain a work permit while their green card applications are being processed.

Culleton, a plasterer, said he was pulled over by federal agents while driving home in early September after stopping at a grocery store. He was followed initially by a blue Ford and then, “out of nowhere, there seemed to be seven or eight cars and a bunch of cops at the window of the van telling me to roll down the window.”

“They asked me if I had a green card. I said I didn’t. I said I was married to a citizen and I had a marriage-based petition and I was just about to get a green card and I had a work permit to be here and work,” Culleton told RTÉ, adding that none of those details seemed to matter as officers continued to detain him.

Culleton was taken into custody after “local police checked his vehicle outside a Home Depot in Massachusetts,” court record from the end of January show.

Irish government estimates about a year ago suggested as many as 10,000 undocumented Irish immigrants were living across the US. Many likely came on tourist exemptions or temporary work visas, but then stayed in the country illegally after those documents expired, actually lives in the shadows.

A spokesman for the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told CBS News on Tuesday that Irish officials are aware of Culleton’s case and are providing consular assistance to him and his family.

“Our embassy in Washington DC is also directly involved with the Department of Homeland Security at a higher level regarding this case,” the spokesperson said.

In December, the American Civil Liberties Union and other human rights groups released a letter demanding the closure of the ERO El Paso East Montana camp, citing a pattern of abuse at the camp, including beatings and sexual abuse by officials against immigrant detainees, beatings and coercive threats of forced deportation to third countries, medical neglect, starvation and insufficient food, and denial of meaningful access to a lawyer, among other things. alleged rights violations.