An 85-year-old French widow who previously supported Donald Trump's immigration policies says she was forcibly deported after being detained by ICE for 16 days. Marie-Thérèse Ross-Mahé was arrested at her Alabama home on April 1, still wearing her bathrobe and slippers, and describes being chained by her wrists and ankles to other inmates during transport.

Ross-Mahé married American veteran Bill Ross in April 2025 after both lost their first spouses. She was actively applying for permanent residency and had received an employment authorization document and a military ID card as a veteran's spouse. Her husband died suddenly in January, leaving behind a bungalow worth about $173,000.

A probate judge accused Ross-Mahé's stepson Tony, a former state trooper, of instigating her arrest while they disputed the inheritance. After her deportation to France, she said in her first interview that detention facilities shocked her: "They treat them like dogs, not in a human way." The Department of Homeland Security said ICE maintains higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons.