French Woman, 86, Detained In US After Moving To Reunite With 1950s Love

An elderly French woman, who relocated to the US in a bid to reunite with a man she first fell in love with in the 1950s, is now in immigration custody. The 86-year-old, identified as Marie-Therese, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials and was reportedly cuffed by her hands and feet during the arrest.

Her relatives raised concerns after they learnt that she was housed in a crowded facility with 70 other detainees, The Guardian reported. The woman suffers from existing heart and back conditions, her family said. One of her sons told French media that ICE agents were treating her mother “like a hardened criminal.”

For several days after she was taken into custody, the family had no information about her whereabouts. It was only after French consular representatives were granted access that they were able to confirm her situation.

“For us, it's urgent to get her out of the detention centre and bring her back to France. Given her health, she won't last a month in such conditions of detention,” her son told The Guardian.

Marie-Therese moved from Brittany to Alabama last year after reconnecting with Billy, a former US serviceman she had met while working as a bilingual secretary at a NATO base in the 1950s. Their relationship was cut short in the 1960s when he returned to the US after France exited NATO's integrated command under then president Charles de Gaulle.

The two re-established contact decades later through social media in 2010; at the time, both were married to other partners. After they were widowed, she chose to relocate to Anniston in Alabama, where they planned to spend their later years together.

Her circumstances shifted dramatically after Billy's death in January 2026. She was left without a green card and in a legally uncertain position. A dispute soon followed with one of Billy's sons, who is alleged to have cut off utilities at the home where she was staying. Legal proceedings had been initiated with a court date scheduled in early April.

But immigration agents detained her on April 1, days before the case was due to be heard.

“It's like a bad scene from an American film. Every morning, I wake up saying it can't be true, that I've had a nightmare,” her son said.

Her detention comes at a time when immigration enforcement has been significantly ramped up across the US following policy shifts under President Donald Trump after he returned to office in 2025.