French widow detained by ICE in Alabama is released after 16 days

An 85-year-old Frenchwoman who spent 16 days in U.S. immigration detention went home to France on Friday.

Jean-Noël Barrot, the French foreign affairs minister, announced the return of the woman, Marie-Thérèse Ross-Mahé, to reporters Friday morning, saying “there were acts of violence” in her case that concerned the French government.

“The main thing is that she is back in France, and that is fully satisfying to us,” he said.

Delivered directly to the Alexandria International Airport in Louisiana by immigration officers, Ross-Mahé was greeted at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport by her three adult children. She was still dressed in her prison wear -- orange shoes, sweatpants and a gray sweater -- covered in stains and holes, according to one of her sons. Ross-Mahé, who has high blood pressure and back pain from severe sciatica, was in a state of physical shock and spiritual exhaustion, he said.

The French consul general of New Orleans, Rodolphe Sambou, visited Ross-Mahé twice while she was in detention and lobbied for her release. He said Friday that the U.S. government had “conveyed to us that they decided to release her, given her age and medical condition.”

The Homeland Security Department confirmed Friday that she had left the United States but did not say more, and it was unclear whether she had been deported or left voluntarily. The agency had previously said that she overstayed a 90-day visa by roughly four months and had been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Ross-Mahé moved to Anniston, Alabama, last year after marrying a former American GI named Bill Ross whom she had met in the 1950s, when they were both teenagers working at a NATO base in western France. They had kept in touch for decades, and after both were widowed, they fell in love, visiting each other in France and the United States.

Once married and settled in his longtime home, Ross-Mahé began the immigration process.

But when Ross died in January at 85, Ross-Mahé’s troubles began. Ross left no will, and a fight ensued with his two adult sons. He left behind the one-story home worth about $173,000, as well as two cars and a bank account holding about $1,500.

On the morning of April 1, Ross-Mahé was arrested by U.S. immigration officials and removed from her home in Anniston, dressed only in her nightgown, robe and underwear. She was taken to an immigration detention center hundreds of miles away in Louisiana.

A county probate judge overseeing Ross’ estate, Shirley A. Millwood, said that one of Ross’ sons -- a retired Alabama state trooper who she said now works at a federal courthouse in Anniston -- was responsible for Ross-Mahé’s arrest.

The judge wrote that law enforcement officers informed the son, Tony Ross, a day before Ross-Mahé’s arrest that she would be detained and that he received a text confirming the arrest less than an hour after it happened. Two hours after her arrest, the judge wrote, Bill Ross’ other son, Gary, went to their father’s house and changed the locks.

Both sons, who are in their 50s, have not responded to repeated requests for comment, and neither has their lawyer.

In her ruling, Millwood, a Republican elected in 2024, noted that the Ross brothers had rerouted all mail sent to their father’s home, “purposely” circumventing Ross-Mahé from getting her mail. As a result, Millwood said, Ross-Mahé did not receive mail related to her efforts to gain citizenship and missed an immigration hearing.

Ross-Mahé and her stepsons had accused one another of concealing or getting rid of Bill Ross’ assets, according to court papers.

Millwood denied the sons’ request to be the administrators of their father’s estate, instead appointing an independent administrator and ordering that the two sons surrender the keys to their father’s home.

She also called on the federal government to investigate the sequence of events that led to Ross-Mahé’s arrest.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Copyright 2026 The New York Times Company

This story was originally published April 17, 2026 at 3:32 PM.