French Woman, 86, Lands in ICE Detention After Traveling to Alabama to Marry First Love

An 86-year-old French woman’s dream to reunite with her first love took a tragic turn as she ended up in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. In June 2025, Marie-Thérèse Hélène Ross arrived in Anniston, Alabama, from Brittany, France, to marry Bill, a retired U.S. Army colonel and pilot.

Ross and Bill first met in the 1950s when he was posted at a NATO base in Saint-Nazaire, France. Sparks flew between the two, and they soon fell in love. Sadly, their love remained unfulfilled, as Bill had to leave the base and return to the U.S. in 1966 after France withdrew from NATO’s integrated military command structure. Meanwhile, Ross stayed back in her native country.

As the years passed, the two married different partners. However, fate brought them together again as they reconnected on social media in 2010. After both of their spouses passed away, Ross decided to give her relationship with Billy a chance. In April 2025, she announced to her family that she would be moving to the U.S. to finally marry Billy.

Two months later, she entered the country on the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). But her love story was once again short-lived as Bill died just a few months later in January 2026. Ross had not secured a green card before his death and was declared an illegal immigrant.

On April 1, ICE agents arrested the elderly woman and sent her to a Louisiana detention facility. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says the VWP only allows an individual to stay in the country for 90 days, but Ross continued to reside in the U.S. for seven months.

Back in France, Ross’s family is concerned about her, considering her age and health issues. According to her son, she struggles with heart and back problems. The family says she is being held in the detention center with 70 other people, and her health is

The family learned her whereabouts only after French consular officials visited her in the Louisiana detention facility. Ross’s son says he is worried about his mother and wants to bring her back to France.

“For us, it’s urgent to get her out of the detention centre and bring her back to France. Given her health, she won’t last a month in such conditions of detention,” he said in a statement to French newspaper Ouest-France.

The son also claims that life has not been easy for Ross after Bill’s death, as Bill’s son got into a dispute with her over inheritance. Bill’s son allegedly cut off basic necessities at her home, including water and electricity.

The matter was pending in court, but Ross was arrested before she could appear in court. “It’s like a bad scene from an American film. Every morning, I wake, saying it can’t be true, that I’ve had a nightmare,” Ross’s son added.

It is not yet clear how long the elderly woman will be held at the detention facility and whether she will be deported.