LONG BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 12, 2026--
As the City of Long Beach prepares to host its annual Pride Parade and celebration this weekend, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is pleased to announce the dedication of its expanded AHF Wellness Center - Long Beach with a ribbon-cutting ceremony set Friday, May 15th. The state-of-the-art facility—relocated upstairs and separate from AHF’s Healthcare Center, offers free and confidential STI and HIV testing, counseling, and access to resources like PrEP and PEP.
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“AHF Wellness Centers are a part of AHF's broader mission to provide comprehensive HIV/AIDS and STI prevention, treatment, and advocacy, meeting clients where they are and eliminating barriers to accessing care and services for those most in need,” said Marcelino Alcorta, AHF Western Bureau Chief. “This new, conveniently located site in Long Beach is a stellar example of AHF’s innovative approach in better serving the community.”
HIV and STI Statistics in Long Beach, CA
According to the data, Long Beach has catalogued 4,038 people living with HIV as of Dec. 31, 2023. Long Beach’s rate of people living with HIV is 865.5 per 100,000 residents, significantly higher than the 2021 statewide rate of 352.9 per 100,000, according to the California HIV Surveillance Report that year ( Long Beach Post, Jan 26, 2024 ).
Long Beach also experiences high rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), often exceeding Los Angeles County (LAC) averages. In 2021, over 5,400 new cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis were reported among residents, with particularly high rates in the 20-29 age group. ( Long Beach HIV/STI Report - 2023 ). For testing information and hours, please visit www.freeSTDcheck.org.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the world’s largest HIV/AIDS healthcare organization, provides cutting-edge medicine and advocacy to more than 3 million individuals across 50 countries, including the U.S. and in Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region, and Eastern Europe. In January 2025, AHF received the MLK, Jr. Social Justice Award, The King Center’s highest recognition for an organization leading work in the social justice arena. To learn more about AHF, visit us online at AIDShealth.org, find us on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.
AHF is pleased to announce the dedication of its expanded AHF Wellness Center - Long Beach with a ribbon-cutting ceremony set for Friday, May 15, 2026.
ORVAULT, France (AP) — At night, silence fell over the Louisiana immigration detention facility where 85-year-old Marie-Thérèse Ross was held. Then the wailing began.
’’Children crying, and even babies,” said Ross, the French widow of a U.S. military veteran, whose arrest last month as part of the Trump administration’s i mmigration crackdown made international headlines.
Ross spoke to The Associated Press on Monday about her 16 days in federal immigration custody after being arrested on April 1 in Alabama following an alleged visa overstay, and the late-in-life love story that brought her to the United States. She has been released and returned to France.
The experience in detention, she said, changed her, and her view of politics.
She was held in a dormitory-style room with 58 other women, mostly mothers. ‘’Some of them didn’t know where their children were,'' she said. ‘’I think it’s terrible for a woman not to know where her children are.”
Her arrest in Alabama unfolded so quickly that she barely understood what was happening. Five men, who identified themselves as immigration officers, banged on her door and windows at 8 a.m. before handcuffing her and placing her in a vehicle, she said. She was still wearing her bathrobe, slippers and pajamas.
She was transferred two days later to a facility in Basile, Louisiana. Later that month, she was freed. She is now recovering in a suburb of Nantes in western France with her family. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot had publicly called for her release, saying that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement methods are “not in line” with French standards.
Ross had entered the U.S. to start a new life with William B. Ross, a retired U.S. soldier she had met when he was stationed in France in the 1950s and she was a secretary at NATO.
Between 1962 and 2022, they stayed in touch via William's wife, who was friends with Marie-Therese. “After we both became widowed, we decided to spend holidays together,'' Marie-Therese Ross said. ‘’Then feelings came back, and we decided to marry last year.'' She crossed the Atlantic and moved in with him in Anniston, Alabama.
After he died of natural causes in January, a dispute emerged over his estate.
His sons rerouted mail from the Alabama residence, leading their stepmother to miss an immigration-related appointment, an Alabama judge noted in a court order. The judge 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, and urged a federal investigation into what happened.
The stepson denied involvement in her arrest. Marie-Therese described warm relations with William's sons before he died. After his death, she said, they ‘’transformed.''
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday that Ross overstayed her 90-day visa and that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities are “regularly audited and inspected” to comply with national standards.
“All detainees are provided with proper meals, quality water, blankets, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers. ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens," the department said.
At the detention facility in Louisiana, Ross described strict rules, constant shouting from guards and condescending treatment.
“The prison was clean, the food was OK, but it was the way they spoke to us,” she told the AP. “The guards could not speak without yelling.”
She described the place as noisy. ’’Everybody was talking loudly so everybody could hear what they were saying, but when silence came, you could hear children crying and even babies crying,″ she said. ’’There’s babies in this jail.″
Despite the conditions, Ross described moments of solidarity among detainees. “During the night, if my bed cover slipped away, I felt a small hand putting it back,” she said. “I didn’t know who it was, but they pampered me because I was older than them.”
She said the women called her “Grandma.” She kept a handmade friendship bracelet given to her by another detainee, woven from strips of colored plastic, a gift she wears today.
Family members said Ross is still struggling with memory gaps and emotional distress following her detention. She said she wants to seek medical follow-up in France to address symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress and is receiving support.
Ross said she continues to think about the women she met in custody, most of them from South America. Many were mothers separated from their children.
Her experience changed the way she sees the United States and its immigration policies, Ross said. Her husband was a Trump supporter and they used to watch Fox News together. But she was shocked to learn firsthand how immigrants are treated inside immigration facilities.
She used to view the U.S. as a “country of freedom, where people are not arrested based on how they look, and where those who are detained are treated fairly and with respect.” But the women she met did not deserve to be detained, she said. “Their only fault was to be South American.”
As she recovers in France, Ross still thinks about them: “When I left this jail in Louisiana, I told them that if I ever had the chance to speak about them, I would do it, to help them.”
Marie-Therese Ross-Mahe, an 85-year-old French widow of a U.S. military veteran, poses in Orvault, western France, during an interview with The Associated Press, Monday, May 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mathieu Pattier)
Marie-Therese Ross-Mahe, an 85-year-old French widow of a U.S. military veteran, poses in Orvault, western France, during an interview with The Associated Press as she describes her detention in a Louisiana immigration facility last month, Monday, May 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mathieu Pattier)
Marie-Therese Ross-Mahe, an 85-year-old French widow of a U.S. military veteran, poses in Orvault, western France, during an interview with The Associated Press as she describes her detention in a Louisiana immigration facility last month, Monday, May 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mathieu Pattier)
Marie-Therese Ross-Mahe, an 85-year-old French widow of a U.S. military veteran, poses in Orvault, western France, during an interview with The Associated Press, Monday, May 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mathieu Pattier)
Marie-Therese Ross-Mahe, an 85-year-old French widow of a U.S. military veteran, poses in Orvault, western France, during an interview with The Associated Press, Monday, May 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mathieu Pattier)
