Pensioner detained by ICE in US returns to France17 hours agoKathryn ArmstrongGetty ImagesA French woman in her eighties who was detained at an immigration enforcement centre in the US has returned to France, the country’s foreign minister says. Pensioner detained in US by ICE returns to France17 Hours agoKathryn ArmstonGetty ImagesA French woman aged 80 who was detained in an immigration enforcement center in the US, has returned to France. “Mum is now free!” “It’s a relief,” he told French outlet Ouest-France following her release.French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot confirmed Marie-Therese arrived back in France on Friday morning. He added: “We are happy about that.” The New York Times reported, citing her son, that she was still wearing her prison uniform which was covered with stains and hole when her brother and sister were reunited at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport. He told Ouest-France that his mother met Billy in 1960, when he served at the Nato Base of Saint-Nazaire and he was a secretary. Billy later returned to the US and the two lost touch. They married other people and had children. Ouest-France reported that the pair reconnected and visited each other with their spouses in 2010. By 2022, they were both widowed and began a relationship. Billy was a “charming, adorable man”, Marie-Therese’s son said, adding that the couple were in love “like teenagers”.They married last year and Marie-Therese relocated to Alabama, applying for a green card – a long-term visa – that would grant her the right to remain in the US.She had not yet received the green card when Billy died suddenly in January, leaving her immigration status unclear.Shortly afterwards, one of his sons and Marie-Therese reportedly entered a dispute over his inheritance.Billy’s son “threatened her, intimidated her, and even went so far as to cut off her water, internet, and electricity,” her son told Ouest-France.Marie-Therese hired a lawyer but was arrested by ICE the day before a scheduled hearing. Her children were alerted by her neighbours. “They handcuffed both her hands and her feet like she was dangerous criminal,” said he. Since the start Donald Trump’s second tenure in office, ICE’s role has been central to the administration’s mass-deportation initiative. Its budget and mission has been significantly expanded, and it plays a crucial role in removing illegal immigrants from the US. “There have certainly been violent acts that have caused us concern, but what is most important is that Marie-Therese is back in France. “EuropeFranceUnited States
