Inés Gómez Mont immigration detention, Digi Mart USA News (Miami, Florida): Inés Gómez Mont received a new legal setback in the United States. On Thursday, November 5, a federal judge in Miami rejected the release request filed by the Mexican former television host, who has been held by immigration authorities since October 30.
The ruling was issued by Judge Jeffrey Kuntz of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, who determined that the legal petition filed by her defense was not the proper procedure for seeking her release.
According to information published by the news agency Reforma, her attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition on October 31, a U.S. legal mechanism used to challenge the legality of a detention.
The judge concluded that the defense should first have approached an immigration judge to request a bond hearing, rather than going directly to federal court. He also did not rule on the conditions of her detention, finding that this issue could not be resolved through the petition filed.
Gómez Mont is currently in custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach, Florida.
The ruling also revealed that the former host, who holds Mexican and Spanish nationality, entered the United States without undergoing an immigration inspection in July 2021 and has remained in the country since then.
Authorities consider her inadmissible due to the circumstances of her entry and the lack of valid documentation authorizing her stay. Although the ruling is a setback, she will not be automatically deported as a result.
Her next step is to request a hearing before an immigration judge, who will determine whether she may continue her case outside detention upon payment of bail.
Her situation resembles that of her husband, Víctor Manuel Álvarez Puga, who was detained by U.S. immigration authorities in September 2025 and later was authorized to face his deportation process while free.
According to court reports, the couple entered the United States on tourist visas in January 2021. Months later, he traveled to the Bahamas and returned to U.S.
territory by sea without his documents being reviewed by an immigration officer.
In addition to her immigration issues, Gómez Mont faces three active arrest warrants in Mexico, according to the Attorney General’s Office (FGR). One relates to an investigation into alleged organized crime and transactions involving proceeds of illicit origin, while the other two concern possible tax fraud offenses.
The accusations are linked to investigations into alleged irregularities in public contracts, for which Álvarez Puga is also named.
Although Mexican authorities have requested the extradition of the couple, as of November 5 the U.S. Department of Justice had not initiated the corresponding judicial extradition proceeding before the federal court in Miami.
Therefore, her current detention responds to an immigration procedure and not to a ruling on the crimes attributed to her in Mexico. The former host retains the presumption of innocence regarding the criminal charges and must await the decision of an immigration judge to learn whether she can regain her freedom while her status in the United States is determined.
