Widow of US veteran says detention changed her view of America and its politics

Last updated: May 13, 2026 | 05:38

Marie-Therese Ross-Mahe, an 85-year-old French widow of a U.S. military veteran, poses in Orvault, western France, during an interview with The Associated Press, Monday, May 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mathieu Pattier)

ORVAULT, France: At night, silence fell over the Louisiana immigration detention facility where 85-year-old Marie-Thérèse Ross was held. Then the wailing began.

’’Children crying, and even babies,” said Ross, the French widow of a US military veteran, whose arrest last month as part of the Trump administration’s i mmigration crackdown 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.…