Inés Gómez Mont, Digi Mart USA News: Former television host Inés Gómez Mont was not released after a federal judge in Miami denied the habeas corpus petition filed by her legal team, a remedy similar to the amparo in Mexico’s judicial system. She was detained by immigration authorities on October 30, according to national media reports.
The decision was issued on November 5 by Judge Jeffrey Kuntz of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, who found that the request filed by her attorneys was not the appropriate mechanism.
According to the judge, she must seek release before an immigration judge.
Gómez Mont is being held at the Broward Transition Center in Pompano Beach, according to her record in the ICE detention system. Her file cites two grounds for detention: entering the country without passing through immigration inspection and currently lacking a document authorizing her stay in the United States.
She must now request an immigration hearing to seek release while any possible deportation proceedings are pending.
Mexico’s Attorney General, Ernestina Godoy, spoke about the legal situation in Mexico, stating that the detention was for immigration reasons but that, if deported, Mexican authorities would arrest her upon entering national territory because arrest warrants have been issued against her.
Godoy said that “Inés N would have received into her personal bank accounts funds of illicit origin obtained through a scheme of diversion and triangulation of public resources.”
The charges cited against her are organized crime, transactions with funds of illicit origin, and equivalent tax fraud. The Prosecutor’s Office and Mexican authorities emphasize that she is presumed innocent and that Mexican courts will determine her responsibility.
Gómez Mont faces accusations of equivalent tax fraud and is linked to investigations into alleged irregularities in financial operations. In November 2019, the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime (FEMDO) opened an investigation against her, her husband Víctor Manuel Álvarez Puga, five other people, and seven companies.
In 2022, the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) made public arrest warrants against the main individuals involved, who allegedly took part in a financial scheme designed to conceal false operations through simulated commercial acts and service provision.
