Marie-Thérèse’s son has been campaigning since April 1st to assist his mother. As reported by Ouest-France, this 86-year-old French woman was placed in detention in the United States last week by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Found at her American home in the small town of Anniston, Alabama, she was “handcuffed at the feet and hands like a dangerous criminal,” according to her son, based on testimonies from Marie-Thérèse’s neighbors across the Atlantic.
Her detention in a Louisiana facility was reportedly due to her lack of a permanent visa. Marie-Thérèse had settled in the United States in April 2025 after marrying Billy, a former American soldier she met near Saint-Nazaire in the late 1950s.
The “two teenagers,” as Marie-Thérèse’s son calls them, reunited starting in 2010, before drawing closer in 2022 following the deaths of their respective spouses. Until Billy’s death in January 2026.
Keen on staying in the United States and resolving an inheritance issue with Billy’s family (for which a trial was set for April 9), Marie-Thérèse, lacking a green card, was detained by ICE.
After nearly a week in detention, her son was able to visit her during a consular visit. “She is holding up. Our mother is a fighter. She is a force of nature. She is nicknamed ‘the unsinkable’ by the other detainees,” he recounts to Ouest-France.
The octogenarian suffers from heart problems and severe back pain, among seventy other detainees. Much to her son’s dismay: “Given her health, she will not last a month in such detention conditions.”
