An 86-year-old French woman has been detained by ICE after moving to the US to marry a long-lost love she first dated in the 1960s.
Her new husband died just months later, leaving her alone in the US before she was arrested earlier this month following a fallout with his son.
Marie-Thérèse, from Nantes, had travelled to Alabama to rekindle the decades-old romance.
Her own son told French media she was treated ‘like a dangerous criminal’, claiming officers handcuffed her hands and feet when she was detained in Anniston.
The elderly widow had married American partner Billy last year after the pair reconnected decades after first meeting when he was stationed at a NATO base in Saint-Nazaire and she worked as a secretary.
They lost touch when he returned to the US in 1966 and went on to build separate lives, marrying other people and raising families.
But they found each other again in 2010 and, after both were widowed by 2022, began a relationship that her son said left them ‘in love like teenagers’.
After their wedding, Marie-Thérèse relocated to the US and applied for a green card, hoping to settle permanently with her husband.
However, her situation was thrown into doubt when Billy died suddenly in January, before her residency was approved.
In the weeks that followed, she apparently became embroiled in a dispute with her stepson over inheritance.
She had hired a lawyer and was due to attend a court hearing, but was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement the day before it took place.
Marie-Thérèse has been detained at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) centre in the state of Louisiana.
There is no evidence her stepson reported her to authorities.
Her son said neighbours alerted the family after the arrest, adding: ‘They handcuffed her hands and feet like she was a dangerous criminal.’
France’s foreign ministry has since intervened, with Marie-Thérèse receiving a consular visit while in detention.
Her son said she is ‘holding up well’ but warned her health is fragile, with heart and back problems.
‘Our priority is to get her out and bring her back to France,’ he said. ‘Given her condition, she won’t last a month in such detention.’
The case comes as Immigration and Customs Enforcement has taken a central role in enforcing Donald Trump’s sweeping deportation crackdown during his second term.
