The 85-Year-Old Widow Snagged by Trump’s Immigration Crackdown: Caused by an Inheritance Issue

Ms. Ross- Mahé first met her American husband, Bill Ross, when they dated in the 1950’s while they worked at a NATO base in western France.  Both went on to marry different partners for their first marriage, but stayed in touch over the decades as they built their lives and families. Mr. Ross married and raised two sons with Ms. Viaud, who died in 2018. Ms. Ross-Mahé had three children with her first husband, Bernard Goix, who died of lung cancer in 2022. Mr. Ross sent her supportive messages when Bernard fell sick.

Four months after Bernard died, Mr. Ross sent her a ticket to visit him in Alabama. In April of 2025, the two married in Alabama.

Mr. Ross hired a lawyer to process her application for permanent residency.  She received an employment authorization from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and an identification card from the Department of Defense for being a veteran’s spouse.

Mr. Ross died intestate in January 2026. He left behind the bungalow with its backyard pool, worth about $173,000; two vehicles; and a bank account holding about $1,500. Ms. Ross-Mahé clashed with Mr. Ross’s sons, both in their 50s, over the inheritance.

The day after Mr. Ross’ death, the sons took his two vehicles, according to a ruling by a county probate judge. Court records said the sons forced her to give them her husband’s cellphone. That meant she couldn’t make local calls, she said, since she had only her French phone. Ms. Ross-Mahé said they cut off her cable and internet, took their father’s credit cards and refused to help her fill her prescription for blood pressure medication. Her neighbors assisted her in helping pay her electricity and water bills. They took her to the hospital, bought her groceries and organized Meals on Wheels deliveries to the house.

She found a second lawyer and changed the locks on the house so Mr. Ross’s sons couldn’t enter whenever they wanted. She covered the windows with paper, so no one could see inside.

The probate court set a date for a hearing on April 9.  Eight days before the probate hearing, Ms. Ross-Mahé was arrested by Homeland Security agents.  She was informed by an ICE officer that she had been illegally in the United States between the time her visa expired and when her green card application was submitted, a period of four months.

The probate judge, in her ruling on April 10, accused Mr. Ross’s youngest son, Tony, a courthouse security officer and former state trooper, of initiating his stepmother’s arrest. The judge said that U.S. marshals notified Tony the day before the arrest that she would be detained shortly. An hour after her detention, he received a text message confirming her arrest, the judge said.

She learned about the judge’s ruling, and the suggestion that her stepsons instigated her arrest, only after her release and back in France.

For more information see Catherine Porter “The 85-Year-Old Widow Snagged by Trump’s Immigration Crackdown” The New York Times, April 25, 2026.