The latest immigration story about which we are supposed to be outraged is that of Seamus Culleton, an Irishman who has lived in the United States for nearly two decades after overstaying his 90-day visa.
Staying ahead of this bullshit is exhausting, but it’s the only way. Had this yesterday:https://t.co/ijH6N5t2ha
— David Marcus (@BlueBoxDave) February 13, 2026
The media trotted out his story as a cause celebre largely because they assume that those of us who believe that immigration laws should be enforced only care about the issue because of brown people. Since they cannot comprehend anybody actually believing laws should be enforced, they assume that anybody who wants them to be enforced is a racist. Liberals enforce laws by race, so the same must be true of conservatives.
Seamus Culleton, an illegal immigrant from Ireland was arrested last September by ICE, pursuant to a deportation order after he overstayed his 90-day visa by nearly two decades. Now, for the most cynical of reasons, he is the Left’s new anti-ICE cause celebre.
The pro-Culleton argument is that he had a work visa, a pending green card application, is married to an American and has committed no violent crimes. But none of this changes the fact that his underlying 20-year stay was illegal, and there was an active deportation order against him.
Culleton was given a chance to be taken directly to Ireland, but chose to stay and fight deportation, which he must and should do while in detention. Honestly, the only thing remarkable about this case, and here comes the cynical part, is that he is White and Irish.
The story has floated around for a couple of days, and the Democrats are lobbying to get us all outraged. The thing is, I, and most people, fail to be so, and wonder why the man refused an offer for a free flight home instead of spending months in what he called "hell."
Senator Markey is demanding we bypass the law for one individual. Here are the facts Ed left out:
— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) February 12, 2026
- Seamus Culleton overstayed his visa by 16 years.
- He entered via the Visa Waiver Program - explicitly waiving his right to contest removal.
- After receiving due process, he… https://t.co/MrO3pFR1Ts
Well, the answer has come out: he is, in fact, a criminal and would face charges in his home country.
Reason magazine’s Nick Gillespie opined on X regarding the detention, "This is appalling and I hope cuts through to the 'heritage American' types who otherwise could care less about due process for immigrants."
The assumption here is that racist supporters of President Donald Trump and his deportation policies will embrace Gillespie’s libertarian pro-illegal immigrant stance to protect a White guy. But it's absurd, facile, and not happening.
All these stories about the "hell" people are going through in detention miss the most salient fact of all: they are there because they chose to be there. Far from being held extra-judicially in a jail, they are facing detention because that is the process, recently confirmed by yet another court case. Obviously, people who have already broken the law, fled from justice to hide in the country illegally, and who have deportation orders are flight risk. They have been fleeing from immigration enforcement for years already.
Seamus is fighting his deportation order, which he had been ignoring as he went about his business in the US illegally, and that is why he is in detention, as is the case with almost everybody who is being held. Illegal immigrants have a standing offer to take an exit bonus from the United States and get a free flight home, and every one of them has chosen to take their chances, and all these people in detention are fighting to stay here. If they are in detention for months, it is because they want to be.
Remember the sob story about the Irish guy who was complaining about ICE? Media tried to make him out to be some great guy. Nope, turns out he skipped out on drug charges in Ireland when he came to America and overstayed his visa AND a deportation order.
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) February 13, 2026
This was a propaganda op… https://t.co/LtZppDPs2V
I have no reason to think that Seamus is a bad guy. His drug-dealing offenses from two decades ago are not a credit to his character, but perhaps he has been clean, sober, and is a decent bloke. Not that the media would tell us otherwise, given how they shill for MS-13 and Tren de Aragua members, or lionize a man who was facing charges for smuggling in 50 lbs of Meth.
But assume he is just a guy who made a mistake in Ireland. Fine. He has also been breaking the law here for decades and has a legal deportation order. He knew the consequences of doing so, and even signed a waiver when he entered, in which he explicitly acknowledged he had no right to challenge a deportation, so he is breaking his word once again, as a judge recently pointed out.
If Seamus had left voluntarily, he would have had a decent chance of being readmitted legally because he married a US citizen while he was here illegally. At every step along the way, he has been burying himself, based on the bizarre notion that the law doesn't apply to him. That is a notion that every Democrat seems to share about themselves and anybody they like.
Seamus might be a guy I would enjoy having a beer with. I don't know. But what I do know is that he got himself into this mess, is digging a deeper and deeper hole, and that Democrats think that feelings matter more than the rule of law.
Democrat Rep. Steve Cohen defends criminal illegals by saying American citizens are the real "worst of the worst."
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 11, 2026
COHEN: "The worst of the worst are not the immigrants, the worst of the worst, records show, are native-born Americans." pic.twitter.com/KXVg0ys0IW
And liberals only seem to have positive feelings about lawbreakers for some reason. It was not so long ago that Democrats were running a "deport Elon Musk" campaign, which is about as on-brand as you can get.
IT’S TIME TO CANCEL THE GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS OF @ELONMUSK. He’s actively spreading post-hurricane disinformation AND turned Twitter-X into a donation-in-kind to Trump
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) October 7, 2024
AND RECLASSIFY HIS IMMIGRATION STATUS and deport him
GET THE MONDAY COUNTDOWN PODCAST: https://t.co/4SaLbt5rs9 pic.twitter.com/1qX6M2ldpW
NEW: Rep Don Beyer (D) calls for Elon Musk’s deportation.
— Resist the Mainstream (@ResisttheMS) March 6, 2025
"We're going to send Elon back to South Africa."
I thought Democrats opposed deportations. pic.twitter.com/X9R3FyHXTT
With Democrats, it's never the "what," but the "who" that matters.
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