Marie-Thérèse, 86 years old, was arrested by the American immigration police. On April 1st, this octogenarian originally from Loire-Atlantique, who has been living in the United States for several years, was detained and placed in a detention center by ICE, the federal immigration police, notably linked to the deaths of two people in Minneapolis in recent months.
According to her son, who spoke to our colleagues from Ouest-France, the immigration police officers “handcuffed her feet and hands like a dangerous criminal” at her home in Anniston, Alabama. It was her neighbors who alerted authorities after witnessing Marie-Thérèse’s arrest, she suffers from heart and back problems.
“We do not know the real reasons for this detention, we only found out thankfully from the neighbors, otherwise we would be in the dark,” explains Hervé, Marie-Thérèse’s son. “We have had no contact with her since. We have managed to get information and news from her thanks to the mobilization of people on the ground.”
An love story with an American soldier she met in the 1950s
Hervé said he received information about an initial contact established by the Quai d’Orsay and the consul of Louisiana on Thursday, April 9th, who met her and now confirms that there is a strong mobilization to find a solution and have his mother released as soon as possible. According to a diplomatic source interviewed by AFP, “the French consulate general in Atlanta is closely following the situation” of this French woman, “who has also benefited from consular protection. The consulate is in contact with her family and remains in close contact with US ICE authorities.”
The octogenarian had decided to settle in the United States and marry an American ex-air force colonel in 2025. They had met about sixty years earlier when she was a bilingual secretary on a NATO base and they had reconnected after their spouses passed away. This Vietnam veteran died suddenly last January at the age of 85.
Marie-Thérèse, who was hoping for the “officialization” of her green card and had a social security card, “was waiting for the court’s decision on her successions on April 9th” before returning to France “from that judgment.” “We hope she can come back as soon as possible,” hopes Hervé.
