French woman, 86, held by ICE after moving to US to reunite with long-lost love
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The son of pensioner Marie-Thérèse told French media he is worried for his mother's frail health as she is detained in a Louisiana ICE centre.
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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.
His 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.
According to Ouest-France, the two reconnected in 2010 and visited one another with their spouses.
By 2022, both were widowed and started a relationship. Billy was a "charming, adorable man", Marie-Thérèse's son said, and the couple were in love "like teenagers".
They married last year and Marie-Thérèse relocated to Alabama, applying for a green card that would grant her the right to remain in the US.
But Billy died suddenly in January, and his son and Marie-Thérèse reportedly entered a dispute over his inheritance.
According to Ouest-France, Billy's son "threatened her, intimidated her, and even went so far as to cut off her water, internet, and electricity," her son said.
Marie-Thérèse hired a lawyer, but was arrested by ICE the day before a scheduled hearing. Neighbours alerted her children.
There is no proof that it was a report by Billy's son that landed his stepmother in an ICE detention centre.
The French foreign ministry is involved and Marie-Thérèse had received a consular visit, her son told French media. He added that his mother was a "fighter" and "holding up well" but that she had heart and back problems.
"Our priority is to get her out of this detention center and repatriate her to France. Giv
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