Culleton was facing drug charges when he moved to US

Ottoline Spearman

Seamus Culleton, the Irishman from Kilkenny who is currently detained in Texas awaiting deportation, was facing drug charges when he moved to the US.

According to the Irish Times, he was facing charges of alleged possession of drugs, and possession of drugs for sale or supply, at Ballyverneen, Glenmore, in May 2008.

A warrant was issued for his arrest in April 2009, a month after he had relocated across the Atlantic.

He was also allegedly facing charges for obstructing a garda during a search by throwing 25 ecstasy tablets on the ground.

A further warrant was issued in September 2009, in relation to an alleged criminal damage charge from September 2007 at Weatherstown, Glenmore.

Culleton moved to the US in March 2009, and married a US citizen Tiffany Smith in April last year. He had applied for a green card on the basis of his marriage, but in September, he was picked up by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and transferred to a detention facility in Texas.

Culleton has described the conditions there as "like a modern day concentration camp", a statement which the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has described as "false".

The DHS has alleged that when Culleton arrived in the US in 2009 under a visa waiver programme, which allows people to stay in the US for 90 days without a visa, he did not leave after this period.

“A pending green card application and work authorisation does not give someone legal status to be in our country," the DHS previously said.

Culleton has asked for his case to be raised in the Taoiseach's visit to the White House in March.

Micheál Martin has said that "five to six" Irish nationals are currently detained by ICE in the US.