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The French government demands that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) immediately release Marie-Thérèse Hélène Ross, an 86-year-old French citizen who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on April 1 at her home in Anniston, Alabama, and taken, handcuffed, to a federal detention center in Louisiana.
The DHS justified the arrest by stating that the woman had entered the country in June 2025 and had exceeded the 90-day limit allowed by the Visa Waiver Program, labeling her as an "illegal foreign national from France."
Ross's story is one of late love with a tragic outcome, as reported by several news agencies in recent hours.
In the 1950s, she worked as a secretary at the NATO base in Montoir-de-Bretagne, near Saint-Nazaire, where she met William "Billy" Ross, an American soldier.
They lost contact when France withdrew from the NATO integrated military command structure in 1966 and Billy returned to his country.
Decades later, in 2010, they reunited—both widowed—and resumed their relationship.
In April 2025, they got married, according to the records of Calhoun County, Alabama, and Marie-Thérèse moved to the United States while awaiting the processing of her permanent residence card.
However, Billy passed away suddenly in January 2026, leaving the elderly woman in a migratory limbo.
According to the family obituary, he was a captain in the United States Army.
After his death, Ross decided to stay in Alabama to handle legal matters and an inheritance dispute with Billy's son regarding the veteran's estate.
She hired a lawyer to regularize her immigration status, but was detained by ICE the day before a court appointment.
Her children in France were not notified by U.S. authorities: they learned of the arrest from neighbors and were only able to hear directly from their mother a week later, when French consular officials were able to visit her.
"She was handcuffed and shackled as if she were a dangerous criminal", reported her relatives.
This case adds to a series of arrests that have generated controversy, including deportation procedures against 248 relatives of former military members, in a context where authorities have maintained that military service alone does not exempt foreigners from current immigration laws.
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