ICE has created a major international incident with Ireland by detaining Irish citizen married to a U.S. citizen. He has committed no crimes, is here with a legal work permit, but ICE snatched him up in a sweep at a Home Depot in Massachusetts. He was briefly held in an ICE detention center in Massachusetts but was then sent to a concentration camp in Texas with thousands of men housed in fetid tents without clean toilets. His mother and family back in Ireland are requesting that Ireland’s taoiseach makes ICE free Seamus Culleton before he meets with Donald Trump on St. Patrick’s day. The story is plastered across Irish media and has been picked up by the Guardian in the U.S. and International editions.
Mr. Culleton did nothing wrong but ICE still tried to deport him. Mr. Culleton has asserted that ICE forged a document that falsely stated that Mr. Culleton agreed to be deported. Mr. Culleton said that his life was with his wife and small business in Massachusetts and that he never agreed to be deported. He believes that his indefinite detention which has reached 5 months is punishment for exposing the ICE forgery. www.independent.ie/...
“They're known to hold people for long periods down here before deporting them, and especially me, because I have accused the ICE agents of signing my name without any real evidence to back it up.”
“They may just hold me for months and months as punishment," he said.
Conditions are horrific in apparent violation of international law according to European experts. Mr. Culleton fears for his life, not because of the other inmates, but because of the abusive guards.
www.theguardian.com/...
An Irish man who has been held by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement for five months despite having a valid work permit and no criminal record says he fears for his life and has appealed for help from Ireland’s government.
Seamus Culleton said conditions at his detention centre in Texas were akin to “torture” and that the atmosphere was volatile. “I’m not in fear of the other inmates. I’m afraid of the staff. They’re capable of anything.”
Speaking from the El Paso facility to Ireland’s RTÉ radio, Culleton implored the taoiseach, Micheál Martin, to raise his case with Donald Trump when he visits the White House next month for St Patrick’s Day celebrations.
“Just try to get me out of here and do all you can, please. It’s an absolute torture, psychological and physical torture,” Culleton said, adding he did not know how much more he could take. “It’s just a horrible, horrible, horrible place.”
Donald Trump and his lead advisor on immigration Steven Miller have expressed their desire to have more immigration of Europeans to the U.S. so why would they allow abuse of an Irish man married to a U.S. citizen? It doesn’t help achieve their goal of preserving a white majority in America.
I think the answer, which should disturb all U.S. citizens, is that an authoritarian bureaucracy operating in darkness becomes an uncontrolled monster that attacks any thing and any one that threatens its power. And there is no limit to the power that such a bureaucracy will accept. ICE and the Border Patrol are a law onto themselves and if one of them decides to kidnap and deport you the bureaucracy will enable it. It one of them decides to shoot you, the bureaucracy including the Department of Justice will defend the ICE or CBP shooter.
Donald Trump has repeatedly lied about deporting the worst of the worst while allowing immigrants who have committed no crimes to stay. This case exposes that lie for what it is. Once the masked secret police of ICE/CBP are allowed to snatch up people off of the streets and forge documents, no one is safe. No one. When ICE does refuses to accept legal documentation and hold people in black sites and concentration camps, no one is free. Anyone could be snatched off of the streets and held indefinitely.. What started as a racist attempt to keep black and brown migrants from coming into the U.S. has morphed into a nascent police state. The Department of Homeland Security, ICE and the armed forces Customs and Border Patrol are now Steven Miller’s Donald Trump’s secret police.
Any one of us could be Seamus Culleton. Once officers ignore documentation, forge documents and take away your freedom without due process, there is no law. It could happen to anyone.
extra.ie/...
The businessman is based in the Boston area and runs his own plastering firm. He is married to American native Tiffany Smyth, and has no criminal record or as much as a parking ticket to his name. ….
The Irish native has been detained since the start of September, and recalled the moment he was apprehended by ICE officers.
He had been returning items to Home Depot after finishing his work shift when he noticed he was being followed by a blue Ford.
Officers ignored Seamus explaining that he had a marriage-based petition in place and was set to receive his Green Card in the foreseeable.
