Marie-Thérèse Ross-Mahé was arrested by ICE agents and detained for 16 days under “unsanitary” conditions. Back in France, she is trying to become the voice for other detainees.
Marie-Thérèse Ross-Mahé, an 85-year-old French woman living in Alabama and a supporter of Donald Trump, never expected to end up in an ICE prison. On the morning of April 1st, she was abruptly awakened by US immigration agents. Clad in her robe, pajamas, and slippers, she was handcuffed and taken to a cell.
“I didn’t really understand what was happening… It was very humiliating. I didn’t even have time to comb my hair. I had just woken up,” she told the New York Times on Saturday, a few days after her release on April 16. During her 16-day detention, she described living through hell in the US immigration detention system.
She claimed to have been shackled at the wrists and ankles to other detainees and shipped on buses and airplanes “like a bag of potatoes.” Initially held in an “unsanitary prison” in Alabama, where she resided, she was later transferred to an ICE processing center in Louisiana. Now free, she accuses her two stepsons of orchestrating her arrest to claim their father’s inheritance, Marie-Thérèse’s late husband.
After two weeks in detention, Marie-Thérèse had lost all hope of being released and didn’t think she could survive much longer, as she shared with the American daily. “I was waiting to die, really,” she whispered, convinced she would never leave her cell. Despite her ordeal, she acknowledged the kindness of other detainees who helped her with basic tasks.
On the eve of Easter, they sang hymns that moved her to tears. “They were amazing… I found God in that prison through these women,” she praised. While the widow now condemns the conditions in ICE prisons and aims to be a voice for all detainees, she previously supported Donald Trump’s policies on deporting illegal migrants.
“I didn’t think such things existed… I believed that after their arrest, they would be treated correctly. I was deeply shocked,” she declared. She emphasized, “They treat them like dogs, not humanely.”
Correct even for professional news context.
Fact Check: The story recounts the ordeal faced by Marie-Thérèse Ross-Mahé during her detention in the US immigration system, highlighting the conditions and accusations made against her stepsons.
