EL PASO, Texas – An Irishman married to a U.S. citizen has been held in an immigration detention camp for five months, despite a pending green card application, according to court records.
Seamus Culleton's detention is part of a pattern in the Trump administration's increasingly tough enforcement effort, which has swept up not only people who crossed the border illegally but also thosewho overstayed their visaor legal entrance documents.
Culleton is being held inCamp East Montana, a detention facility erected on the Fort Bliss Army base with a projected capacity of 5,000 people.
After the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by federal immigration agents (ICE), communities across the U.S. are protesting against Trump's surge of immigration enforcement actions.Pictured here, Demonstrators gather for a protest calling for the removal of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Jan. 30, 2026 in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Protests were held across the United States in response to ICE enforcement activity." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Hundreds of people gather to protest ICE at the corner of Palafox and Garden Streets in downtown Pensacola, Florida, on Jan. 30, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
'ICE Out' protests spark marches, confrontations across US
After the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by federal immigration agents (ICE), communities across the U.S. areprotestingagainst Trump's surge of immigration enforcement actions.Pictured here, Demonstrators gather for a protest calling for the removal of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Jan. 30, 2026 in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Protests were held across the United States in response to ICE enforcement activity.
While in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Culleton has missed at least two scheduled interviews with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to confirm his green card, his attorney, Ogor Okoye, told USA TODAY.
USCIS and ICE are sister agencies under the Department of Homeland Security.
"ICE, you have the power to allow him to attend the interview," Okoye said. "The interview that will confirm the status you say he doesn't have."
In an emailed response to questions, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Culleton "received full due process" and has been ordered removed by a judge.
"A pending green card application and work authorization does not give someone legal status to be in our country," she said.
Irish citizens don't require a visa to travel to the United States. Culleton, who arrived in 2009, stayed beyond the 90 days allowed and has lived here for 15 years, his attorney said. He started a plastering business and met his wife, Tiffany Smyth; they married in 2025.
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Anyone who comes to the United States on the Visa Waiver Program, as Culleton did, legally gives up their right to contest their removal if they violate the terms of the agreement.
Buta longstanding policy, dating to 2013, made an exception for the "immediate relatives" of a U.S. citizen. As long as applicants don't have a deportation order or a criminal record, they can apply for an immigration benefit, like legal permanent residency.
Culleton applied. He has no criminal record, his attorney says, not even a traffic ticket. In court documents, Culleton refutes the government's claim that he has received a final order of removal. He said he's never received or signed the order.
Immigration authorities picked up Culleton in September after running his license plate in a Home Depot parking lot in Massachusetts, court records show. He was briefly held in New York, then moved to the Texas facility.
The Trump administration has been flying detainees from Democrat-friendly jurisdictions such as Massachusetts to ICE detention centers that fall within the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals – including Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi – where it is harder for immigrants to win bond or release.
Culleton's wife, Smythe, paid a $4,000 bond to secure his release, Okoye said, but ICE appealed the judge's decision and it was overturned.
A federal judge rejected his "habeas corpus" petition to be released due to his prolonged detention, ruling the petition was premature. Immigrant detainees can petition for their release after being held in detention for six months beyond a judge's order for removal or release.
Detainees and immigrant advocateshave raised alarms over the conditionsin Camp East Montana. Three detainees in custody there have died since December; onewas ruled a homicide.
Lauren Villagran covers immigration for USA TODAY and can be reached at lvillagran@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Irishman detained by ICE despite American wife, pending green card