spoiler
An 86-year-old French woman who moved to the US last year after rekindling a 1960s romance is being detained at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) centre in the state of Louisiana.
The son of Marie-Thérèse, from the city of Nantes, sounded the alarm after his mother was arrested in Anniston, Alabama, earlier in April.
"They handcuffed her hands and feet like she was a dangerous criminal," he told French outlet Ouest-France.
His mother had moved to the US after marrying her long-lost love - an American man named Billy whom she had met in the 1960s, when he was a soldier stationed in the Nato base of Saint-Nazaire, and she a secretary. Billy returned to the US in 1966. He and Marie-Thérèse lost touch, got married - each in their own country - and had children.
According to Ouest-France, the two reconnected in 2010 and visited one another with their spouses. By 2022, both were widowed and started a relationship. Billy was a "charming, adorable man", Marie-Thérèse's son said, and the couple were in love "like teenagers". They married last year and Marie-Thérèse relocated to Alabama, applying for a green card that would grant her the right to remain in the US.
But Billy died suddenly in January, and his son and Marie-Thérèse reportedly entered a dispute over his inheritance. According to Ouest-France, Billy's son "threatened her, intimidated her, and even went so far as to cut off her water, internet, and electricity," her son said.
Marie-Thérèse hired a lawyer, but was arrested by ICE the day before a scheduled hearing. Neighbours alerted her children.
There is no proof that it was a report by Billy's son that landed his stepmother in an ICE detention centre. The French foreign ministry is involved and Marie-Thérèse had received a consular visit, her son told French media. He added that his mother was a "fighter" and "holding up well" but that she had heart and back problems.
"Our priority is to get her out of this detention center and repatriate her to France. Given her health, she won't last a month in such conditions of detention," he said. Since the start of Donald Trump's second term in office, ICE has taken a central role in carrying out his administration's mass deportation initiative. ICE, its budget and its mission have been significantly expanded and plays a key role in removing undocumented immigrants from the US.
Marie-Thérèse's son said his story "was like a bad American film. Every morning I wake up and tell myself none of it is true, that it was just a nightmare." The BBC has reached out to the US Department of Homeland Security for comment.
THERE WILL BE NO ROMATIC REUNIONS; THERE WILL BE NO SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE; THERE WILL BE NO TEARFUL DEPARTURES AND EVEN MORE TEARFUL REUNIONS; THERE WILL BE NO LIST OF THINGS YOU DO NOT LIKE ABOUT SOMEONE; THERE WILL BE NO BET MADE ABOUT LOSING A GUY IN TEN DAYS; THERE WILL BE NO GOTH CHICK CASTING A CURSE ON YOU MAKING YOU SOME SORT OF GOOD-LUCK CHARM WHERE IF PEOPLE HAVE SEX WITH YOU THEY IMMEDIATELY MEET THEIR SOULMATE AFTER; THERE WILL BE NO WEDDING SINGERS; HARRY WILL NOT MEET SALLY; THERE WILL BE A NORMAL AMOUNT OF FIRST DATES, WHICH IS 0 BECAUSE THERE WILL BE NO LOVE YOU WILL NOT KISS YOU WILL NOT HUG YOU WILL MOST CERTAINLY NOT MAKE LOVE
FURTHERMORE:
NO HEAVING BOSOMS
NO RIPPED BODICES
NO YEARNING
NO LOINS
NO BARNS OR HAYSTACKS
NO FABIO-LOOKING MOTHERFUCKERS WORKING AS FARMHANDS
NO ENEMIES TO LOVERS
NO INNS THAT ONLY HAVE ONE BED LEFT SO THE PRINCESS AND THE GRUFF KNIGHT BEGRUDGINGLY HAVE TO SHARE A ROOM
DON'T LIKE IT? CAN'T LEAVE, BECAUSE THERE WILL ALSO BE NO EUROTRIP YOU WILL NOT BEFRIEND A CHAOTIC GROUP OF RASCALLY HOOLIGANS. SCOTTY DOES NOT KNOW AND HE WILL NEVER KNOW. SIT DOWN, SHUT UP AND DIE FOR CAPITAL.
I'm going to make a post of all my comments that should be taglines, but egregiously aren't.
:volcel-sicko-yes:
GOOD post
Sleepless in Seattle? GO TO BED THEN