Marie-Thérèse Helene Ross, an 86-year-old French woman who lost her American husband in January, was detained last April by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for overstaying her 90-day permit in the country. Her son has reported the violence with which she was arrested ("handcuffed feet and hands") despite her advanced age and the conditions of her detention in an illegal immigrant detention center in Louisiana.
The French government has made efforts for her release and repatriation. The consul in New Orleans, Rodolphe Sambou, has been able to visit her twice and expects her release in the coming days, amid harsh criticism of the Trump Administration for the excesses of its immigration police and the detention conditions of elderly and children.
ICE publicly confirmed on Wednesday the detention of Marie-Thérèse Helene Ross, described simply as "an undocumented foreigner" who had exceeded her tourist stay permit by seven months. The French woman, who married her youthful love in April 2025, the American veteran William 'Bill' Ross, claimed she was in the process of obtaining a "green card" to stay in the country after her husband's death in January.
Her son suspects she may have been detained due to a complaint filed by Ross's family, over an ongoing legal dispute over the deceased's inheritance. "They handcuffed her as if she were a dangerous criminal," denounced the son of the octogenarian French woman to Ouest France. "They did not consider her age or her precarious health condition, as she has heart and back problems."
"Neighbors had shown willingness to support her in court," her son said. "Our mother is enduring: she is a fighter, a force of nature (...) But all this is like a bad scene from an American movie. Every morning I wake up telling myself it's not true, that I had a nightmare."
The American nightmare truly began as a love story between Marie-Thérèse and Bill. They had met in the 50s, when they both worked at the NATO base in Montoir-de-Bretagne, near Nantes. Bill returned to the United States in 1966 when France withdrew from NATO's integrated military command structure. The relationship ended, and they did not see each other for years.
They reconnected in 2010 and frequently visited each other with their respective partners. When they both became widowed, they finally consummated their youthful love and decided to get married last spring. Marie-Therese, originally from Le Pouliguen, moved to Anniston, Alabama, where she lived with her husband until his passing.
Her sudden detention at their marital home has once again highlighted ICE's draconian methods, two months after the case of the 79-year-old Cuban Julia Benítez Pérez, known as "the grandmother," who was released after nine months in an ICE detention center despite her fragile health and symptoms of senile dementia.