An agent of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) waits in a hallway outside of a courtroom at New York Federal Plaza Immigration Court inside the Jacob K. Javitz Federal Building in New York on July 17, 2025. Personal motive involving an inheritance led Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to arrest and detain an 85-year-old French widow, according to a probate judge. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)
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Personal motive involving an inheritance led Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to arrest and detain an 85-year-old French widow, according to a probate judge. The arrest generated outrage in France and caused an Alabama probate judge to demand a federal investigation. The detention of an 85-year-old woman raises questions about the Trump administration’s insistence that ICE targets the “worst of the worst.” Attorneys say the arrest shows the danger of allowing individuals with personal or financial motives to decide or influence federal immigration law enforcement matters.
An Immigration Case That Started With A Decades-Long Friendship And Marriage
Marie-Thérèse Ross-Mahé became friends with Bill Ross in the 1950s, when they were teenagers working at a NATO base in France. After staying in communication for years, the two became widowed, fell in love and married. Ross-Mahé moved to Alabama and into Bill Ross’s house.
Ross-Mahé started the immigration process but, in January 2026, Bill Ross died. “Mr. Ross left no will, and an ugly fight ensued with his two adult sons,” reported Catherine Porter and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs in the New York Times. “He left behind the one-story home worth about $173,000, as well as two cars and a bank account holding about $1,500.”
In April, ICE agents arrested Ross-Mahé in her nightgown and flew her to an immigration detention in Louisiana. She remained in detention for more than two weeks, until outcry over her case led to her release and a return to France. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot complained about the unacceptable living conditions Ross-Mahé was forced to endure in ICE detention.
An inheritance was at the heart of the ICE arrest. “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,” reported the Associated Press. “Millwood accused one son—a former Alabama State Trooper who now works as a federal employee—of using his position to prompt the detention of his stepmother days before a hearing over the estate.”
“The stepson denied involvement in his stepmother’s arrest in court, but Millwood said evidence indicated he knew in advance of the arrest and received a text message confirming it shortly afterward,” according to the AP. “His brother then arrived at the home to change the locks shortly 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’s home.”
The case raises questions, including who at ICE signed off on arresting and detaining an 85-year-old widow. “As demonstrated by this story, when someone with a personal motive can trigger enforcement against a vulnerable individual in the context of an inheritance fight or any other type of dispute, it has the unfortunate impact of transforming public authority into a private weapon,” said Chris Thomas of Holland & Hart in an interview.
According to Thomas, “Such selective or strategically timed enforcement has the effect of granting extraordinary powers to complainants who feel they have been slighted in some personal dispute, and it undermines any hope that our government will exercise the necessary discretion to remain above the fray of private or civil disputes, such as an estate battle.”
In March, the New York Times reported that an ally of the Trump administration, Paolo Zampolli, contacted a top official at ICE asking to have his ex-girlfriend, Amanda Ungaro, arrested and deported. At the time, Zampolli was involved in a custody dispute with Ungaro. Zampolli is known for introducing Donald Trump to his wife, Melania, the First Lady.
Ungaro thought she would lose custody of her son if she remained in detention and requested to be sent to Brazil. According to the New York Times, “The son asked to move to Brazil to live with Ms. Ungaro, and Mr. Zampolli agreed. But by the end of the year, the teenager decided to move back to the United States to live with his father. He remains there while his parents continue fighting in court.”
“At its core, the issue really isn’t about whether ICE can act on a tip,” said Thomas. “I recognize that they can. But the concern is whether there are sufficient safeguards to prevent bad-faith actors from exploiting the system to advance their personal agendas.” He encourages the federal government to enact better safeguards.
Immigration attorney Cyrus Mehta believes the case of the 85-year-old widow raises ethical and legal issues. “There are federal rules at 5 CFR 2635.701 that prohibit a government official from using public office for private gain,” said Mehta in an interview. “If a government official used official authority or non-public information to weaponize ICE against another, such as a noncitizen, this could trigger sanctions such as reprimand, suspension, demotion or firing. It can also potentially lead to criminal liability.”
“Regarding the governmental attorneys who may authorize such an action or have knowledge of it, they too are subject to the rules of professional conduct in their state bar jurisdictions,” said Mehta. He notes that the American Bar Association Model Rule 8.4 or its state bar analog, “provides a basis for disciplining an attorney who engages in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation or conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice.”
While Marie-Thérèse Ross-Mahé has returned to France, the use of federal immigration law enforcement resources to affect the outcome of an inheritance dispute has attracted more unwanted attention to ICE. The Associated Press reports that Calhoun County Probate Judge Shirley A. Millwood called on the federal government to investigate Ross-Mahé’s arrest “in light of the ongoing national events surrounding the distrust of federal law enforcement officers and the many investigations ongoing of corruption within our government.”