A court in the United States has issued a temporary order postponing the deportation of Irishman Seamus Culleton (38), his lawyers have said.
Culleton was moved to a detention facility in El Paso, Texas, after being arrested near his home in Massachusetts by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officers in September.
In January, a court in Texas rejected a habeas corpus application, which was a challenge to his detention, from the Irishman, who has been in the US since 2009.
It found that people who entered the US on visa-waiver programmes and overstayed their visit were not entitled to contest their deportation, other than if they had applied for asylum.
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Culleton’s case has received widespread international attention. He married US citizen Tiffany Smith in April of last year and was in the process of applying for permanent residency, on the basis of the marriage, when he was picked up by Ice agents and moved to Texas.
His legal representatives, BOS Legal Group, of Lynn, Massachusetts, in a statement said it entered a petition for review of his removal order, and an ex parte (one side only) motion to stay Culleton’s removal, in the courts in the First Circuit, which includes Massachusetts and a number of other US states, late last week.
The group said that, on Friday, the court “entered a temporary order staying Culleton’s removal for the next 10 business days. The court ordered the government to file their response, which is due in the coming days”.
The law firm said it “remains focused on securing his release from Ice custody and obtaining the immigration relief necessary for him to be united with his wife and to remain in the United States with his family”.
There have been reports, however, of Ice detainees being deported from the US despite court orders. The US fifth circuit, which includes the courts in Texas, is said by some US attorneys to operate a particularly hard line in relation to habeas corpus applications in immigration cases.
Culleton, from Glenmore, Co Kilkenny, told The Irish Times last week that conditions in the Ice facility in El Paso are “like a concentration camp, absolute hell”. The US department of homeland security has disputed this.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the department, said in a social media post last week that Culleton had overstayed his visa and failed to depart the US after he was apprehended in September.
He was offered the choice to be instantly deported to Ireland but instead “chose to stay in Ice custody”, she said, referencing his decision to contest his deportation.
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At the time of Culleton’s move to the US, he was the subject of criminal charges in Ireland, including an allegation that he was in possession of drugs for the purposes of supply and another of criminal damage.
The District Court in New Ross, Co Wexford, issued bench warrants for his arrest when he failed to appear before the court in April and September 2009. He went to the US as a tourist in March 2009.
The warrants remain in existence and Culleton has not since come to the attention of An Garda Síochána.
In a statement on Monday, BOS Legal said it would not be commenting on Culleton’s personal or family matters.
A GoFundMe page set up to help Culleton’s wife deal with his arrest has received $28,470 (€24,065) to date. In a note on the website last week, Smith described the ruling of the Texan court as “devastating” and said there was “no appeal”.
“Now we are using our voices to get his story out there and still praying for a miracle and standing behind Seamus,” she wrote.
