An 86-year-old French woman is being held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) center in Louisiana following her arrest in Alabama earlier this month.
Marie-Thérèse, a resident of Nantes, France, was taken into custody in Anniston, Alabama, according to her son.
"They handcuffed her hands and feet like she' was a dangerous criminal," her son told the French outlet Ouest-France.
A decades-old romance
Marie-Thérèse moved to the United States last year to reunite with her husband, Billy, an American man she first met in the 1960s.
The pair met when Billy was a soldier stationed at the NATO base in Saint-Nazaire and Marie-Thérèse worked as a secretary.
After decades of living in separate countries and raising their own families, the two reconnected in 2010.
Following the deaths of their respective spouses in 2022, the couple resumed their relationship and married last year.
Marie-Thérèse had applied for a green card to secure her right to remain in the U.S. following the marriage.
However, Billy died suddenly in January, triggering a legal and personal dispute over his inheritance.
Marie-Thérèse's son alleges that Billy's son threatened and intimidated his stepmother, even cutting off her access to water, internet, and electricity.
While there is no confirmed proof that a report from Billy's son led to the arrest, Marie-Thérèse was detained by ICE the day before a scheduled hearing.
The French foreign ministry has intervened and provided consular visits to the detained woman.
Her son described her as a "fighter" but warned that her existing heart and back problems make the detention center environment life-threatening.
"Our priority is to get her out of this detention center and repatriate her to France," he said.
Her son added that the situation feels like a "bad American film" and that he struggles to accept the reality of the situation.
This arrest occurs as ICE expands its operations under the current administration's mass deportation initiatives.
