Seamus Culleton, who arrived in the US from Ireland in March 2009, has been in ICE custody since September 2025.Facebook

Seamus Culleton, the Co Kilkenny man who has been in ICE custody in the US since September, reportedly had a bench warrant for his arrest issued in Ireland in April 2009.

Culleton had been charged with the unlawful possession of drugs, possession for sale and supply, as well as obstruction in relation to an incident on May 17, 2008, in Glenmore, Co Kilkenny, RTÉ News has reported.

After he failed to appear at a sitting of New Ross District Court to face the charges in April 2009, a judge issued a bench warrant for his arrest.

The warrant was issued a month after Culleton arrived in the US, where he has remained since. He entered the US under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which permits entrants to remain in the US for up to 90 days. He overstayed that period.

The issue of the Irish arrest warrant was put to Culleton's lawyer Ogor Winnie Okoye during a virtual press conference on Wednesday, February 11.

"This is the first time that we're hearing about that," Okoye told an RTÉ journalist on Wednesday when asked about the warrant.

She continued: "Mr. Culleton has been in the United States since March of 2009 and will not be aware of any warrant that happened after he came to the United States.

"A warrant is not a conviction, a warrant is not a criminal entry.

"I will leave it at that until I understand the specific facts of the case."

Okoye later said in the press conference that she had yet to speak with Culleton about the Irish arrest warrant.

38-year-old Culleton, who has been married to American citizen Tiffany Smith since April 2025, has been in ICE custody since he was arrested outside a Home Depot in Saugus, a suburb of Boston, on September 9.

Within days of his arrest in Massachusetts, Culleton was transferred by ICE to the Batavia, New York, ICE facility, where he was detained for about two weeks. He was then moved to the ERO East Montana ICE Detention Camp in El Paso, Texas, where he has now been held for more than four months.

The Irish man's situation made international headlines this week after a report in the Irish Times on Monday, followed by Culleton's call into RTÉ's Liveline on Tuesday, where he described the Texas facility "like a modern-day concentration camp."

Speaking from the ICE Detention Camp in El Paso, Culleton told Liveline: "I'm in fear for my life in here because people have been killed by the security staff."

Before his arrest, Culleton had begun his green card application with his wife. USCIS had already begun processing Culleton's case, and had approved his Employment Authorization Document (EAD) associated with his green card application, Okoye said in a statement on Wednesday night.

Okoye said that Culleton was scheduled for his marriage-based green card interview in November and December 2025, but USCIS denied requests for him to appear telephonically from custody.

A habeas petition challenging his detention was filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas, but on January 23, the court denied the petition, concluding that under existing Fifth Circuit precedent, VWP entrants like Culleton have no due process rights to contest their removal.

Okoye said that her client's case has raised concerns regarding the lack of proper notice and disputed signatures on documents ICE claimed were served on Culleton. She said that although the court noted procedural irregularities, it ultimately ruled that Culleton likely signed the documents, attributing inconsistencies in his testimony to sleep deprivation caused by detention conditions.

Okoye highlighted: "Historically, US immigration law and policy have recognized the importance of family unity and have permitted immediate relatives of US citizens to adjust their immigration status even when they have overstayed a visa. USCIS policy memos and guidance support the approval of marriage-based adjustment applications filed by VWP entrants, and DHS has routinely exercised favorable discretion in such cases, including cases like Culleton’s where a marriage-based adjustment application is already pending."

Tiffany Smith and Seamus Culleton. (Facebook)

Meanwhile, Tricia McLaughlin, the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the US Department of Homeland Security, posted on her personal X account on Wednesday that Culleton "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 added: "Being in detention is a choice."

In Ireland, Culleton's case was raised in the Dáil this week, with Taoiseach Micheál Martin saying that the Department of Foreign Affairs has been aware of the matter since October and "has been engaging with Homeland Security through the Consulate General in Austin and the Embassy in Washington."

He later added: "We do not have the authority to interfere in the application of law, but we do have the capacity to advocate strongly on behalf of our citizens to ensure that they are properly and humanely treated.

"We are conscious that this happened is in the middle of an application for status. We do not want to do anything that would undermine the securing of that status for Seamus Culleton."

Meanwhile, a GoFundMe to "Bring Seamus Home" has raised nearly $28,000.