An Irish court has issued a warrant for the arrest of an Irish man who is currently in a dispute with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has been ramping up arrests and operations around the United States since last year.
Seamus Culleton spent five months in US custody and faced deportation despite having a valid work permit in a case that attracted widespread publicity. His lawyer called him “Model Immigrant” Without a criminal record.
On Thursday, April 2009 – a month after Culleton entered the US on a tourist visa – a district court in New Ross, County Wexford, Irelandissued a warrant for the alleged seizure Medicines For sale or supply in previous year. Culleton faces charges of obstructing a garda – police officer during a search by throwing 25 ecstasy tablets on the ground, Irish Times reported.
The revelations add a new dimension to a case that has become a lightning rod for concern about ongoing ICE immigration sweeps and detentions around the US.
In an RTE Radio interview earlier this week From a detention center in El Paso, Texas, Culleton compared the conditions there to a concentration camp and said he feared for his safety. He appealed to the Irish government to raise his case with Donald Trump so he could return to his wife, a US citizen, and his plastering company in the Boston, Massachusetts area.
Politicians and commentators in Ireland His detention has been condemned and Taoiseach Michael Martin has accused him of not doing enough.
Culleton, originally from County Kilkenny, entered the US on the visa waiver program in March 2009 and overstayed the 90-day limit. After marrying Tiffany Smith, a US citizen, and applying for lawful permanent residency, he obtained a statutory waiver that allowed him to work, according to his lawyer, Ogor Winnie Okoye.
Okoye said he was his client “The Perfect Candidate” The government should exercise favorable discretion on his behalf because he is neither a flight risk nor a “criminal of any kind.” She initially gave his age as 42 and on Wednesday corrected it to 38, which matched the date of birth in Irish court records related to Culleton’s drug case.
At a press conference, Okoye said she learned about the case through the media: “This is the first time we are hearing about it,” she said. She also said she did not know what kind of warrant was issued after her client arrived in the US.
“A warrant is not an indictment, a warrant is not a criminal entry, so I’ll leave that until I understand the specific facts of the case,” she said.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a social media post that Culleton failed to leave the U.S. after his visa expired. “He underwent the full process and a final order of removal was issued by an immigration judge on September 10, 2025.” He was given the option of immediate deportation Ireland But instead “chose to remain in ICE custody,” she said, referring to her decision to contest his deportation.
Culleton disputes ICE agents’ claim that he has been in the US his entire life and signed a form consenting to deportation.
