Irishman detained by ICE wanted in Ireland after | Political News

An Irish national who has been held by ICE for virtually 5 months was reportedly going through drug-related fees before departing Ireland.

Seamus Culleton from Glenmore, Co Kilkenny gained consideration this week after talking publicly about being apprehended by ICE and detained for almost 5 months at a facility in Texas. Culleton, who operated a construction business, had resided and labored in Boston for more than 16 years and was married to an American citizen while pursuing a inexperienced card software.

Nevertheless, documentation from Culleton’s home county of Kilkenny reveals that an arrest warrant was issued in 2008, the 12 months prior to his departure to the U.S., relating to alleged drug possession and possession with intent to distribute.

Documentation signifies that on May 17, 2008, the warrant claimed that Culleton had in “his possession a controlled drug to wit MDMA.”

The paperwork moreover claimed that the Kilkenny man “had in your possession a controlled drug, to wit, MDMA for the purpose of selling or otherwise supplying it to another in contravention of the Misuse of substances Regulations 1988 and 1993 made under Section 5 Misuse of substances Act 1977.”, studies the Irish Star.

A separate file indicated that in the District Court of New Ross, it was said that Culleton “did unlawfully impede/obstruct a member of the Garda Síochána… in the lawful exercise by him of a power conferred by the Misuse of substances Acts 1977 and 1984 in that you threw on the ground 25 ecstasy tablets.”

The warrants stay in existence, and Culleton has not since come to the eye of An Garda Síochána.

Culleton’s lawyer, Ogor Winnie Okoye, based in Massachusetts, was contacted by The Irish Times. She expressed shock on Wednesday about the alleged issuance of arrest warrants for Culleton in Ireland back in 2009.

“I can’t speak to a warrant,” she said. She added that these supposed warrants appear to have been issued after his relocation to the US in March 2009. She talked about her consumer “will not be aware of any warrants after he came to the U.S.”

She also emphasised that a warrant will not be equal to a conviction.

Less than a 12 months after the warrants had been allegedly issued, particularly in March 2009, Culleton entered the U.S. as a vacationer under the visa waiver program. He married Tiffany Smith, a U.S. citizen, in April 2025.

He had utilized for a inexperienced card, which would offer him with everlasting residency and work permission.

Culleton reported that he was apprehended by ICE brokers while returning from the Home Depot {hardware} store in Saugus, Massachusetts, on September 9, 2025.

In an interview, his spouse Tiffany revealed that she acquired a cellphone call from him informing her that he had been detained by ICE, and that she would need to retrieve his work truck.

“He said ICE stopped me and they’re taking me away,” Tiffany recounted, including that her husband suggested her “not to freak out.”

She expressed that she had a myriad of questions, but the call ended in less than sixty seconds. For 5 consecutive days, she was unable to attain him.

He was initially taken to a detention heart in Buffalo, New York, and subsequently transferred to a facility in South Texas.