French diplomatic officials are demanding the immediate release of Marie-Thérèse Ross, an 86-year-old French citizen detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Louisiana since April 1. The widow of an American military veteran was arrested in Alabama just one day before a scheduled court hearing regarding her late husband's estate.
Ross moved to the United States in 2025 after marrying Billy Ross, a former NATO serviceman she had met decades earlier in France. The couple's romance began in the 1960s when Billy was stationed at a NATO base in Saint-Nazaire, where Marie-Thérèse worked as a secretary. They lost contact after his deployment ended in 1966, both married other people, and raised separate families.
Social media reconnected the pair in 2010. After both became widowed in 2022, they rekindled their relationship and married three years later. Marie-Thérèse relocated to Alabama and applied for permanent residency through a Green Card application that remained pending when Billy died suddenly in January 2026.
Given her age, we really want her to get out of this situation as soon as possible. We want to get her out of jail.
Rodolphe Sambou, Consul General of France in New Orleans — Associated Press
The arrest occurred amid a bitter inheritance dispute between Marie-Thérèse and Billy's son from his previous marriage. According to her family, Billy's heir had threatened and intimidated the elderly woman, cutting off basic services including water, internet, and electricity to pressure her to abandon any claims to the estate.
NPR frames this as a straightforward diplomatic and humanitarian issue, focusing on the French government's response rather than critiquing US immigration policy. The outlet emphasizes the procedural aspects of the detention without taking a stance on whether ICE's actions were appropriate, reflecting American media's tendency to present immigration enforcement as routine administrative action.