France confirms the return to the country of an octogenarian detained by ICE after the death of her husband

The French Foreign Minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, confirmed this Friday that an octogenarian woman arrested at the beginning of the month by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) has returned to France after the death of her husband.

“He returned to France this morning and that is a source of satisfaction for us,” the minister said in statements to the press during a trip to Montpellier, regarding a controversial detention by ICE.

Marie-Thérèse, originally from Nantes, decided to move to the United States to marry a love from her youth, whom she met at a NATO base established in the 1950s near Saint-Nazaire, in the French department of Loire-Atlantique, where she worked as a secretary.

The US Department of Homeland Security reported that the woman entered the country in June 2025 with a tourist visa that had a duration of 90 days, although she decided to remain in the territory “illegally”, according to the newspaper ‘Le Figaro’.

Marie-Thérèse, 86, met Billy again 60 years after they met in France and they regained contact little by little. Both widowers, they decided to get married in 2025. They lived in Alabama, although last January the love story was cut short and the former US military man died suddenly.

The French woman, who was waiting to receive a permanent residence permit and was involved in an inheritance dispute with her husband’s son, was detained by ICE and later transferred to a detention center in Louisiana.