An Irregular Situation
The issue: the irregular situation of the octogenarian, who did not have a permanent visa, the famous green card. She settled in the United States in April 2025 after marrying Billy, her childhood love. A former NATO soldier, she met him in the late 1950s while they both worked at the Montoir-de-Bretagne military base near Saint-Nazaire.
But Billy passed away shortly after, in January 2026. Marie-Thérèse chose to stay in the United States, especially to settle inheritance issues with her late husband’s family. Suspicions hover over his son, with whom she was in a legal dispute, and who could have reported her to ICE agents. “We assume. But we do not have proof,” clarify the detainee’s relatives.
“The urgency is to repatriate her to France”
Marie-Thérèse’s son is worried to know she is in detention under difficult conditions. His mother suffers from back pain and heart problems. “She’s holding up. Our mother is a fighter. She’s a force of nature. She’s nicknamed ‘the Unsinkable’ by the other detainees,” he reassures. But “given her health, she won’t last a month in such detention conditions.”
/2026/04/11/69da100e24618591889094.jpg "In the United States, movie theaters have a very good start to the year.")
