Seamus Culleton, an Irishman living in the United States for more than 20 years, has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) since last September, despite having a valid work permit and no criminal record.
When he was arrested, Culleton was initially brought to Ice facilities closer to his home in Boston, but for most of the past five months, he has been held thousands of kilometres away at Camp East Montana, a detention centre in El Paso, Texas.
In a phone interview from the facility, Culleton told The Irish Times its conditions were “like a concentration camp, absolute hell”, and spoke of an atmosphere full of “anxiety and depression”.
Situated on a military base named Fort Bliss, Camp East Montana is the largest Ice detention centre in the US. It holds about 3,000 detainees, with reports that capacity could be upgraded to 5,000 in the future.
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More than 30 people died in Ice detention centres across the US last year, and three detainees have died at Camp East Montana since it opened last August. The most recent of those was Geraldo Lunas Campos, a Cuban immigrant, whose family members say he died at the hands of guards in the facility.
According to the New York Times, Ice initially reported that Lunas Campos had died after “experiencing medical distress”. After the Washington Post reported the family’s claims about his death, a US department of homeland security official said Lunas Campos had died by suicide.
A witness told the Associated Press that Lunas Campos was handcuffed and pinned down by at least five guards, with one applying pressure to his neck until he became unconscious. The death was officially classified as a homicide by an El Paso county autopsy report.
In December, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) called for the closure of Camp East Montana, describing a pattern of abuses suffered by detainees, including beatings and sexual abuse by officers, medical neglect, hunger and insufficient food. Ice has denied these allegations.
The centre is made up of a series of large, sprawling tents. Culleton said he has been locked in the same cold, damp room for 4½ months alongside more than 70 men. He said he has been allowed outside for air and exercise fewer than a dozen times.
Culleton also echoed concerns around hunger at Camp East Montana, saying fights can break out over food, or even small juice containers, due to the child-sized portions on offer to detainees.
A Texas congresswoman, Democrat Veronica Escobar, has visited the centre and expressed concerns over the treatment of detainees on several occasions. In a recent piece published by the El Paso Times, Escobar estimated there were 325 women being held at Camp East Montana.
She said that every woman she met had been in the facility for about three weeks, and had been living in the same articles of clothing throughout that period. Their clothes had not been washed, and they had not been offered fresh underwear or fresh clothing, according to Escobar.
Culleton and his family members have been appealing to Irish politicians to help facilitate his release from the detention centre. He asked Taoiseach Micheál Martin, to raise the issue of his release with US president Donald Trump during his St Patrick’s Day meeting at the White House.
[ ‘Absolute hell’: Irishman with valid US work permit held by Ice since SeptemberOpens in new window ]
On its website, Ice says its detention standards ensure that detainees are treated humanely, protected from harm and provided appropriate medical and mental health care.
