85-year-old widow detained by ICE returns home, France's foreign minister says
PBS • • nation
Key Points:
- French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced that Marie-Thérèse Ross, an 85-year-old French widow of an American military veteran, was released from U.S. immigration custody and returned to France.
- Ross was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Alabama on April 1 for overstaying her 90-day visa and was held in a federal detention facility in Louisiana.
- Barrot criticized some ICE practices as inconsistent with French standards, mentioning concerns about the use of violence during her detention.
- Ross was caught up in the Trump administration's mass deportation policies targeting spouses of U.S. military personnel, which had previously been subject to more lenient treatment.
- She had married William Ross, a former U.S. Army captain, in April 2023; he passed away in January 2024.
