A Frenchwoman who moved to the United States to marry a Vietnam war veteran she first met six decades ago returned to France on Friday, April 17, after she was detained by US immigration authorities, the foreign minister said. The 85-year-old woman, who was not being named at the family's request, "returned to France this morning, and we are pleased about that," Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told reporters on a visit to the southern city of Montpellier.
She had moved to Alabama in 2025 to marry the former Air Force colonel, and was seeking a green card, which allows people to live and work permanently in the United States. The couple first met some 60 years ago when she was working as a bilingual secretary at a NATO base, but, according to US media reports, both married other people. Decades later, after both had been widowed, they reconnected.
According to the New York Times, the woman gave up her life in the French city of Nantes and moved to Alabama, where the couple married in April 2025. But the American died suddenly in January at the age of 85, throwing her immigration status into uncertainty and leading to her detention by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE). US media reports said his death also ignited an inheritance dispute between the woman and his son.
