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PARIS (AP) — France’s Foreign Minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, announced the safe return of Marie-Thérèse Ross, an 85-year-old widow of an American veteran, to France on Friday after being in U.S. immigration custody.
Ross was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Alabama on April 1, following the expiration of her 90-day visa, as reported by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
“We are pleased to confirm her return to France this morning,” Barrot stated to journalists while in Montpellier on Friday.
While declining to discuss the case in detail, Barrot expressed disapproval of certain ICE practices, stating they don’t align with French norms and are “unacceptable.” He hinted at concerns over “violence” but did not provide further details.
During her detention, Ross was held at a federal immigration facility located 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.