Irishman living in US for 20 years to be deported over 90-day visa overstay

Eva Osborne

Irishman Seamus Culleton, who has been held by ICE officials in the US, is expected to be deported back to Ireland on Tuesday.

Culleton told the media last week that he had been held in a detention centre in Texas since last September, which he likened to a "concentration camp".

The Kilkenny man was arrested in Boston in September last year, even though he had been in the US for 20 years and is married to a US citizen.

Niall O'Dowd with The Irish Times said that, even before the Trump immigration crackdown, Culleton very likely would not have obtained his green card because he had overstayed his 90-day visa.

"What is happening in practice is that the 90-day overstay visa cases – which is the one most undocumented Irish entered under – are being decided against the immigrant," O'Dowd said.

"The draconian new laws seem to be part of the Trump administration’s policy to make conditions so arduous that inmates will pledge never to come back to the US.

"It is no surprise that the Texas judiciary, which is among the harshest in the USA, is handling much of the immigration issue."

O'Dowd said it seems there will be few limits on steps taken to stop immigrants getting their green cards, even those showing up for their last interview with final signing-off papers clutched in their hand.