\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe 85-year-old widow of an American military veteran held in federal immigration detention returned home to France on Friday, according to the French government and her family.Marie-Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Ross entered the U.S. last June to begin a new life with a retired U.S. soldier she had met decades ago when he was stationed in France, court records show. But after her husband\u2019s death, Ross\u2019 stepson \u2014 a U.S. federal employee \u2014 allegedly intervened to have her taken into immigration custody earlier this month amid a dispute over the estate, an Alabama judge found.\u201cShe returned to France this morning. This is a satisfaction for us,\u201d French Foreign Minister Jean-No\u00ebl Barrot told reporters during a visit to the southern city of Montpellier on Friday. Barrot said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement methods are \u201cnot in line\u201d with French standards and are \u201cnot acceptable to us.\u201d>> YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD: Community coverage from WVTM 13Federal immigration agents detained Ross in Alabama on April 1 after she overstayed her 90-day visa, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. She was then held at a detention facility in Louisiana as French officials expressed concern about her well-being.Ross\u2019 son, Herve Goix, told The Associated Press that she had been in the process of applying for a green card when she was taken into custody.\u201cShe\u2019s very tired, she\u2019s not very good, but it\u2019s difficult for her,\u201d Goix said. \u201cWe are very, very happy, but we are tired.\u201dRoss was not given the medication she needed while being held in the Louisiana detention facility, according to her attorney Kim Willingham.\u201cShe does not feel she or other inmates are being treated well within the facility,\u201d Willingham told the AP. \u201cShe did everything she was supposed to do with regard to obtaining her green card.\u201d>> WVTM 13 ON-THE-GO: Download our app for freeRoss gave up her pension and moved to Alabama last year to marry William B. Ross, a retired U.S. soldier she had met when he was stationed in France in the 1960s, Calhoun County court records show. But after William B. Ross died in January, his two sons became embroiled in a dispute with their stepmother over the modest estate, including the home in Anniston, Alabama, where she resided.The sons rerouted mail from the residence, leading their stepmother to miss an immigration-related appointment, Calhoun County Probate Judge Shirley A. Millwood noted in a court order earlier this month. Millwood accused one son of using his position as a federal employee to prompt the detention of his stepmother days before a hearing over the estate.Marie-Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Ross was taken into custody in her nightgown and unable to bring her phone, passport and other identification with her, records show.The stepson denied involvement in his stepmother\u2019s arrest in court, but Millwood said evidence indicated he knew in advance of the arrest and received a text message confirming it shortly afterward. His brother then arrived at the home to change the locks two hours after federal immigration agents removed their stepmother.In an April 10 ruling, Millwood ordered the stepsons to allow Ross to retrieve her clothes, phone, documents and other possessions from her late husband\u2019s home.Millwood also urged the federal government to investigate the circumstances of Ross\u2019 arrest \u201cin light of the ongoing national events surrounding the distrust of federal law enforcement officers and the many investigations ongoing of corruption within our government.\u201dThe office of attorney Megan Huizinga, who is representing the two stepsons in the estate dispute, declined to comment.DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement, the city of Anniston said its police department “did not execute any warrant, did not arrest Mrs. Ross, and did not participate in the action that resulted in her detention.”\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tPARIS, IDF \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The 85-year-old widow of an American military veteran held in federal immigration detention<\/a> returned home to France on Friday, according to the French government and her family.<\/p>\n Marie-Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Ross entered the U.S. last June to begin a new life with a retired U.S. soldier she had met decades ago when he was stationed in France, court records show. But after her husband\u2019s death, Ross\u2019 stepson \u2014 a U.S. federal employee \u2014 allegedly intervened to have her taken into immigration custody earlier this month amid a dispute over the estate, an Alabama judge found.<\/p>\n \u201cShe returned to France this morning. This is a satisfaction for us,\u201d French Foreign Minister Jean-No\u00ebl Barrot told reporters during a visit to the southern city of Montpellier on Friday. Barrot said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement methods are \u201cnot in line\u201d with French standards and are \u201cnot acceptable to us.\u201d<\/p>\n >> YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD: Community coverage from WVTM 13<\/a><\/p>\n Federal immigration agents detained Ross in Alabama on April 1 after she overstayed her 90-day visa, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. She was then held at a detention facility in Louisiana as French officials expressed concern about her well-being.<\/p>\n Ross\u2019 son, Herve Goix, told The Associated Press that she had been in the process of applying for a green card when she was taken into custody.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s very tired, she\u2019s not very good, but it\u2019s difficult for her,\u201d Goix said. \u201cWe are very, very happy, but we are tired.\u201d<\/p>\n Ross was not given the medication she needed while being held in the Louisiana detention facility, according to her attorney Kim Willingham.<\/p>\n \u201cShe does not feel she or other inmates are being treated well within the facility,\u201d Willingham told the AP. \u201cShe did everything she was supposed to do with regard to obtaining her green card.\u201d<\/p>\n >> WVTM 13 ON-THE-GO: Download our app for free<\/a><\/p>\n Ross gave up her pension and moved to Alabama last year to marry William B. Ross, a retired U.S. soldier she had met when he was stationed in France in the 1960s, Calhoun County court records show. But after William B. Ross died in January, his two sons became embroiled in a dispute with their stepmother over the modest estate, including the home in Anniston, Alabama, where she resided.<\/p>\n The sons rerouted mail from the residence, leading their stepmother to miss an immigration-related appointment, Calhoun County Probate Judge Shirley A. Millwood noted in a court order earlier this month. Millwood accused one son of using his position as a federal employee to prompt the detention of his stepmother days before a hearing over the estate.<\/p>\n Marie-Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Ross was taken into custody in her nightgown and unable to bring her phone, passport and other identification with her, records show.<\/p>\n The stepson denied involvement in his stepmother\u2019s arrest in court, but Millwood said evidence indicated he knew in advance of the arrest and received a text message confirming it shortly afterward. His brother then arrived at the home to change the locks two hours after federal immigration agents removed their stepmother.<\/p>\n In an April 10 ruling, Millwood ordered the stepsons to allow Ross to retrieve her clothes, phone, documents and other possessions from her late husband\u2019s home.<\/p>\n Millwood also urged the federal government to investigate the circumstances of Ross\u2019 arrest \u201cin light of the ongoing national events surrounding the distrust of federal law enforcement officers and the many investigations ongoing of corruption within our government.\u201d<\/p>\n The office of attorney Megan Huizinga, who is representing the two stepsons in the estate dispute, declined to comment.<\/p>\n DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement<\/a>, the city of Anniston said its police department “did not execute any warrant, did not arrest Mrs. Ross, and did not participate in the action that resulted in her detention<\/a>.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 85-year-old widow of an American military veteran held in federal immigration detention returned home to France on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5860,5912,5866,5861,4794,5864,5862,5,2494,5913,5550,5865,5867,5859,5868],"class_list":["post-7187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-france","tag-85-year-old-widow","tag-alabama","tag-alabama-resident-william-ross","tag-american-military-veteran","tag-barrot","tag-customs-enforcement-agent","tag-foreign-minister","tag-france","tag-friday","tag-ice-return","tag-marie-therese-ross","tag-montpellier","tag-southern-city","tag-u-s-department","tag-u-s-immigration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}