ORVAULT, France (AP) 鈥� At night, silence fell over the Louisiana immigration detention facility where 85-year-old Marie-Th茅r猫se Ross was held. Then the wailing began.
鈥欌�機hildren crying, and even babies,鈥� said Ross, the French widow of a U.S. military veteran, whose as part of the Trump administration鈥檚 i made international headlines.
Ross spoke to The Associated Press on Monday about her 16 days in federal immigration custody after being arrested on April 1 in Alabama following an alleged visa overstay, and the late-in-life love story that brought her to the United States. She has and returned to France.
The experience in detention, she said, changed her, and her view of politics.
She was held in a dormitory-style room with 58 other women, mostly mothers. 鈥樷�橲ome of them didn鈥檛 know where their children were,” she said. 鈥樷�橧 think it鈥檚 terrible for a woman not to know where her children are.鈥�
Her arrest in Alabama unfolded so quickly that she barely understood what was happening. Five men, who identified themselves as immigration officers, banged on her door and windows at 8 a.m. before handcuffing her and placing her in a vehicle, she said. She was still wearing her bathrobe, slippers and pajamas.
She was transferred two days later to a facility in Basile, Louisiana. Later that month she was freed. She is now recovering in a suburb of Nantes in western France with her family. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot had publicly called for her release, saying that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement methods are 鈥渘ot in line鈥� with French standards.
Ross had entered the U.S. to start a new life with William B. Ross, a retired U.S. soldier she had met when he was stationed in France in the 1950s and she was a secretary at NATO.
Between 1962 and 2022, they stayed in touch via William’s wife, who was friends with Marie-Therese. 鈥淎fter we both became widowed, we decided to spend holidays together,” Marie-Therese Ross said. 鈥樷�橳hen feelings came back, and we decided to marry last year.” She crossed the Atlantic and moved in with him in Anniston, Alabama.
After he died of natural causes in January, a dispute emerged over his estate.
His sons rerouted mail from the Alabama residence, leading their stepmother to miss an immigration-related appointment, an Alabama judge noted in a court order. The judge accused one son 鈥� a former Alabama State Trooper who now works as a federal employee 鈥� of using his position to prompt the detention of his stepmother, and urged a federal investigation into what happened.
The stepson denied involvement in her arrest. Marie-Therese described warm relations with William’s sons before he died. After his death, she said, they 鈥樷�檛ransformed.”
According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Ross had overstayed her 90-day visa at the time of her arrest. The AP on Tuesday sought comment from DHS, which previously didn鈥檛 respond to requests about the case.
At the detention facility in Louisiana, Ross described strict rules, constant shouting from guards and condescending treatment.
鈥淭he prison was clean, the food was okay, but it was the way they spoke to us,鈥� she told the AP. 鈥淭he guards could not speak without yelling.鈥�
She described the place as noisy. 鈥欌�橢verybody was talking loudly so everybody could hear what they were saying, but when silence came, you could hear children crying and even babies crying,鈥� she said. 鈥欌�橳here鈥檚 babies in this jail.鈥�
Despite the conditions, Ross described moments of solidarity among detainees. 鈥淒uring the night, if my bed cover slipped away, I felt a small hand putting it back,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know who it was, but they pampered me because I was older than them.鈥�
She said the women called her 鈥淕randma.鈥� She kept a handmade friendship bracelet given to her by another detainee, woven from strips of colored plastic, a gift she wears today.
Family members said Ross is still struggling with memory gaps and emotional distress following her detention. She said she wants to seek medical follow-up in France to address symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress and is receiving support.
Ross said she continues to think about the women she met in custody, most of them from South America. Many were mothers separated from their children.
Her experience changed the way she sees the United States and its immigration policies, Ross said. Her husband was a Trump supporter and they used to watch Fox 海角社区app together. But she was shocked to learn firsthand how immigrants are treated inside immigration facilities.
She used to view the U.S. as a 鈥渃ountry of freedom, where people are not arrested based on how they look, and where those who are detained are treated fairly and with respect.鈥� But the women she met did not deserve to be detained, she said. 鈥淭heir only fault was to be South American.鈥�
As she recovers in France, Ross still thinks about them: 鈥淲hen I left this jail in Louisiana, I told them that if I ever had the chance to speak about them, I would do it, to help them.鈥�
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