An 86-year-old French woman who moved to the US last year after rekindling a 1960s romance is being detained at an immigration enforcement centre in Louisiana.
The son of Marie-Thérèse, from the city of Nantes, sounded the alarm after his mother was arrested in Anniston, Alabama, earlier in April.
“They handcuffed her hands and feet like she was a dangerous criminal,” he told French outlet Ouest-France.
The US Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), told the BBC that an “illegal alien from France” matching Marie-Thérèse’s name had entered the country in June 2025 and overstayed her 90-day visa.
According to her son, however, Marie-Thérèse was awaiting a green card when she was detained.
Marie-Thérèse mother had moved to the US after marrying her long-lost love – an American man named Billy whom she had met in the 1960s, when he was a soldier stationed in the Nato base of Saint-Nazaire, and she a secretary.
Billy returned to the US in 1966. He and Marie-Thérèse lost touch, got married – each in their own country – and had children.
The two reconnected in 2010 and visited one another with their spouses, Ouest-France reported.
