'Maman is finally free!': French widow, 86, flies home after ICE detention ordeal [View all]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/17/french-widow-86-flies-home-after-ice-detention-centre-ordeal

‘Maman is finally free!’: French widow, 86, flies home after ICE detention ordeal
Marie-Thérèse Ross-Mahé, who moved to the US to marry a GI she met in the 1950s, was arrested in her nightgown at their home

Kim Willsher in Paris and agencies
Fri 17 Apr 2026 10.50 EDT

An 86-year-old French widow arrested and detained by US immigration agents has been released and allowed to return to her home country.

Marie-Thérèse Ross-Mahé was arrested in her nightgown at the home she shared with her late husband, a retired US army captain, in Anniston, Alabama, more than two weeks ago after she overstayed her 90-day visa, according to the US Department of Homeland Security.

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In a statement to the court, Ross-Mahé said she had missed an appointment with immigration officials to sort out her visa after her late husband’s eldest son, Gary, had redirected all mail sent to their home. She claimed one of his sons had cut off water, electricity and internet at the property.

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Millwood said she believed Ross’s youngest son, Tony, a retired Alabama state trooper, had misused his position as a government employee to tip off US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that she had overstayed her visa. He has denied this.

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