France’s foreign minister says 85-year-old widow detained by ICE returns home
Apr 17, 2026, 5:55 AM
The Anniston, Ala., home where Marie Therese Ross, 85, who has returned to France after being held in U.S. immigration custody, had lived with her late husband, U.S. military veteran William Ross, on Friday, April 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Safiyah Riddle)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/Safiyah Riddle)
PARIS (AP) — French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said an 85-year-old French widow of an American military veteran who was in immigration custody in the United States returned home on Friday.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Marie-Thérèse Ross in Alabama on April 1 after she overstayed her 90-day visa, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
“She returned to France this morning, this is a satisfaction for us,” Barrot told reporters during a visit to the southern city of Montpellier on Friday.
Barrot said he would not comment on the specific case, but said some of ICE methods are “not in line” with French standards and “not acceptable to us.” Barrot referred to “violence that raised our concerns,” without elaborating.
Ross was being held at a federal immigration detention facility in Louisiana.
She was among the thousands of people targeted by the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda that has detained the spouses of U.S. soldiers and military veterans who previously received greater leniency under scrapped policies.
Ross married Alabama resident William Ross in April last year, Calhoun County marriage records show. Ross died in January, according to an obituary from his family, which says he was a former captain in the U.S. Army.
