EL PASO, Tx., March 27, 2026: On Wednesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained Bertha Olga Gómez Fong. Gómez Fong was detained while she walked down an El Paso downtown street during an ICE immigration operation. They detained her after she could not provide immigration agents proof of her legal status in the country.
It is unclear what her legal status in the U.S. was before her detention. Permanent Residents, so-called Green Card holders, are required to always carry proof of their immigration status with them. There are various other immigration statuses that allow immigrants to live or be present in the U.S. They also are required to provide proof of their status to immigration agents at any time.
Gómez Fong, who remains detained by immigration agents in El Paso, will have the opportunity to prove her immigration status. If she was not carrying the appropriate proof at the time of her detention she faces penalties, from fines to administrative removal from the country.
If Gómez Fong is deported to México, she faces arrest by Chihuahua officials who alleged she helped her husband hide money he allegedly stole from Chihuahua. Chihuahua officials, who issued an arrest warrant against her in 2020 may file an extradition request with the U.S. government so that she can stand trial for corruption.
Arrest Warrant Pending In México
She is the wife of former Chihuahua Governor César Duarte Jáquez. Her husband was arrested on July 8, 2020, at a Miami used car lot he was at on a Chihuahua warrant accusing him of stealing millions from Chihuahua while he was governor. He was extradited to México on June 2, 2022.
His wife, Gómez Fong, has a pending arrest warrant issued in 2020 by Mexican federal prosecutors related to the funds that Duarte is accused of stealing from Chihuahua.
When Chihuahua officials attempted to arrest him on suspicion of public corruption while he was governor, he and his wife moved to El Paso to avoid arrest. While hiding from arrest, they were operating and opened businesses in El Paso and Miami, presumably with stolen funds from Chihuahua.
The El Paso Case
A lawsuit filed in El Paso by the State of Chihuahua on February 19, 2020, against family members of the Duarte’s alleges that the money allegedly stolen from Chihuahua was being used to open business in the city.
Duarte is accused of diverting “hundreds of millions of dollars earmarked for social programs” in Chihuahua. In one case, the lawsuit alleges, Duarte ordered state officials to purchase cancer medication from a business he was associated with. State officials paid for cancer treatments at a 300% markup. The profits were then used to purchase properties in El Paso and across the U.S. according to the court documents.
In the lawsuit, Chihuahua officials sought to recover Chihuahua monies they allege Duarte stole and any property they say was purchased with the allegedly stolen money. During his time in El Paso, Duarte and his wife lived on Crimson Cloud on the west side.
According to the Central Appraisal District, the house is currently owned by Bertha Gomez Fong, who was also named in the lawsuit and is Duarte’s wife. She was detained by ICE on Wednesday. The house was purchased by her on August 31, 2011, for $300,000. Compass Bank, now PNC Bank, financed the purchase, according to the warranty deed.
The State of Chihuahua sued Duarte, his wife, his sister, and his son and one of his daughters over the missing money. A sister-in-law and related businesses were also named in the lawsuit. Chihuahua officials were seeking to claim seven houses in El Paso they say were purchased with the stolen Chihuahua money. The case was dismissed in a summary judgement on June 23. 2025.
Gómez Fong was served the civil lawsuit papers in Miami on March 20, 2020. Between their arrival in El Paso and 2019, she and her husband moved to Miami where they opened two businesses.
The Two Miami Businesses
File Photograph of Xtra Clean One laundry storefront, Special to El Paso Herald Post
According to Florida corporate records, Gómez Fong opened XTRA Clean One, Corp in Miami Florida on June 6, 2019. On September 24, 2021, the business was listed by Florida officials as inactive for failure to file its annual report. Records also show that she opened Del Rio Auto Sale, Corp. on February 20, 2020, also in Miami. That business was also inactivated on September 24, 2021, after it also failed to file its annual report. XTRA Clean One was a laundromat located on a strip mall in Miami. Gómez Fong was frequently attending to clients at the store until it closed.
Gómez Fong, along with her husband lived at an apartment in an exclusive Miami condominium where the Del Rio Auto Sale’s business address was located, according to its business filing. Gómez Fong’s husband, Duarte, was buying and selling used cars online through the Del Rio Auto Sale business until his arrest on public corruption charges filed by Chihuahua officials.
Before entering politics, from 1983 through 1993, Duarte would sell imported used cars through his business Cadsa Motors in Chihuahua. Duarte would import the American used cars from El Paso, Texas to Cd. Juárez. He would then take them to his car lot in Hidalgo del Parral, south of Chihuahua to sell them.
The César Duarte Corruption Case
César Duarte Jáquez arrest on July 8, 2020, outside Chavez Used Auto Parts, Miami, Special to El Paso Herald Post.
Duarte was arrested by U.S. Marshals on an Interpol Red Notice issued by Chihuahua officials in Miami at around 1:00pm. on July 8, 2020, at a used car parts store while buying a tire. He was deported on June 2, 2022. Upon his arrival to Mexico City, he was arrested by Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) agents on the Chihuahua corruption charges.
César Duarte Jáquez arrest photograph, Mexico City, June 2, 2022, Fiscalia General de la República
Although Mexican federal officials would erroneously report that he owned the used car parts business he was arrested at in Miami, business records show that the business had been in existence years before he arrived in Miami and employees interviewed said they knew him only as a client who occasionally bought parts there.
The Duarte’s were friends with another Mexican politician accused of stealing $263 million in a massive fraud, dubbed the Master Scam.
La Estafa Maestra
A close friend of the Duarte’s, Rosario Robles Berlanga was also accused of public corruption by Mexican officials. In 2019, Rosario Robles was arrested as part of a massive public corruption case. On August 19, 2022, after spending nearly three years in prison on corruption charges, she was placed on conditional release, requiring her to present herself before officials every 15 days and was prohibited from leaving México.
Photograph posted by César Duarte Jáquez on his official X account, August 23, 2016. From left to right, Duarte, Rosario Robles Berlanga and Duarte’s wife, Bertha Olga Gómez Fong, Martín Paredes/El Paso Herald Post
Her arrest stemmed from a far-reaching 2017 investigation led by the Mexican news outlet, Animal Politico (Political Animal) into corruption. The investigation, dubbed La Estafa Maestra, or the Master Scam, found that up to 50 officials were involved in a scheme to funnel around $263 million in public funds through various shell companies.
The investigation alleged theft of Mexican public funds that happened between 2013 and 2014 with federal funds being fraudulently disbursed by 11 governmental agencies and eight universities to shell companies. According to the investigation, around 88 people were involved in the fraud, including Rosario Robles Berlanga.
Screenshot of the top line of alleged people involved in the corruption from the investigation website, Mexicanos Contra La Corrupción y La Inpunidad, March 26, 2026, Martín Paredes/El Paso Herald Post
Anticorruption investigators filed charges against Robles Berlanga on August 12, 2019. On November 6, 2020, prosecutors issued an arrest warrant against her. She was conditionally released from jail on August 19, 2022, pending trial.
In October 2024, the Mexican Supreme Court acquitted her of the charges, even though she was jailed for over two years awaiting trial and remained conditionally free until she was acquitted. However, although she was not found guilty, the Court ruled that the diversion of public funds should be handled administratively in her case.
Earlier this month, she resurfaced as the coordinator for the Defensa Ciudadana de México (Citizen Defense of Mexico) strategy committee of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) party. The committee will coordinate strategy to help the PRI defeat Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (MORENA) in next year’s elections.
César Duarte is awaiting trial on the corruption charges he faces in a Mexican jail. Rosario Robles Berluga is active in the PRI as it challenges MORENA next year, and Bertha Gómez Fong sits today in immigration detention awaiting a decision on whether she will face the pending criminal charges she faces in México, along with her husband.
Like Us and Follow Us On Our Social Media!
Cover photograph credit: Photograph posted by César Duarte Jáquez on his official X account, August 23, 2016. From left to right, Duarte, Rosario Robles and Duarte’s wife, Bertha Olga Gómez Fong, Martín Paredes/El Paso Herald Post
Visited 48 times, 48 visit(s) today