France demands that ICE release Marie-Thérèse Ross, an 86-year-old Frenchwoman, who traveled to the US to marry her former boyfriend

As reported by ICE to the EFE agency, Ross, who arrived in the US in June 2025, surpassed 90 day stay granted by the Visa Waiver Program. That makes her, according to the immigration agency, “an undocumented foreigner“.

The octogenarian had moved to the small city of Anniston (Alabama) to reconnect with a love from her youth, Billy, a former American military man who served at the Saint-Nazaire base in the Loire in the 60s.

Although they had ended the relationship more than 50 years ago, They both reconnected in 2010.. Having both been widowed, Marie-Thérèse ended up deciding to travel to meet Billy, marry him and process your permanent residence through the ‘Green card’.

The French woman was able to access the country despite the intensification of pressure against immigration under Donald Trump’s second term, taking advantage of the Visa Waiver Program, which allowed her stay in the country for a period of 90 days.

However, even though Billy and her got marriedthe man died suddenly in January 2026leaving her in legal limbo. When detaining her, ICE reproached her for “still illegally in the United States.” seven months later“.

One of Ross’s sons has told the French newspaper West France that ICE did not notify the family about his mother’s detention. They only found out after French consular officials visited her.

The family also regrets the circumstances of the arrest. The octogenarian was handcuffed and led to a Louisiana detention center. “They put shackles on her wrists and ankles, like a criminal,” they denounced.

The Consul General of France in New Orleans, Rodolphe Sambou declared to the Associated Press agency that the French government is “completely mobilized” to achieve the liberation of women.

The diplomat claims to have visited her twice since she was detained. “Taking into account his age, we fervently hope that he gets out of this situation as soon as possible,” he said. “We want to get her out of that jail“.

ICE has come under heavy criticism for holding people elderly peopleas well as babies and young children – even newborns – in conditions that could put their health at risk.

Last February, a 79-year-old Cuban immigrant, known as ‘the grandmother’, was released by the authorities after passing detained for nine months in a jail in Arizona.

The Cuban woman’s release was achieved after the intervention of Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva, who regretted that the physical and mental health of the elderly woman would have deteriorated irreparably during her confinement.