Ethan Couch after his arrest in Mexico (Photo: Jalisco state prosecutor's office) 
 
 DALLAS -- The Mexican attorney representing "affluenza" teen Ethan Couch in his unfolding immigration fight says a decision on the 18-year-old's deportation could be "months away," with even further appeals after that. 
 
 Fernando Benitez, a high-profile attorney based primarily out of Tijuana, confirmed on Friday that he's handling Couch's detention by Mexican immigration authorities. 
 
 "He hasn't committed a crime in Mexico," Benitez said in a phone interview. "Why would Mexico go along with this idea of locating someone and summarily kicking them out of the country so the marshals can grab him across the border? I don't think that's okay." 
 
 MORE: Reports on Ethan Couch 
 
 Benitez says he's filing a petition essentially saying that Couch's constitutional and civil rights may have been violated. 
 
 He says the teen's crimes here in the United States should have no bearing on Mexican officials, or Mexican courts. 
 
 "There is no formal extradition request by the U.S. State Department filed," he said. "They want to get him for not having the proper migratory papers, and have this executive decision." 
 
 Ethan Couch's attorney in Mexico speaks 
 
 Couch and his mother Tonya were detained by Mexican officials on Monday night in Puerto Vallarta at a run-down apartment building. 
 
 They had been on the run from U.S. officials after Couch missed a probation meeting in early December. He's serving 10 years probation for killing four people in a drunk driving accident in 2013. 
 
 Although his mother, Tonya, was deported Wednesday evening, her son was granted a temporary injunction by a Mexican judge, thanks to Benitez's last-minute legal maneuvers. 
 
 The attorney says an evidence hearing in the case likely won't happen until the end of the month, while both sides file additional court documents during the interim. 
 
 "From the hearing, a judge has up to 90 days to issue a ruling," he said. "After that, we could appeal a decision. We're going to take this to the full extent of our capacity and have whoever needs to review it." 
 
 Before being detained, Couch and his mother were believed to have stayed at a different Mexican resort, where workers told ABC News that Couch had a handgun. 
 
 Benitez says the hotel employee's story is suspect, and insists his client didn't have a gun when he was detained. 
 
 "The likelihood of that story being true, for me, is zero percent," he said. 
 
 He hopes to meet with Couch on Tuesday of next week in Mexico City, where the teen is being held at an immigration facility. It is not a prison, and is mostly filled with people who have run adrift of Mexico's immigration policies. 
 
 Representatives from Benitez's office already met with the teen and said he hadn't experienced any harm or mistreatment while in custody. 
 
 Tonya Couch is in a Los Angeles jail cell pending a hearing and eventual transfer back to Texas. She's facing a charge of Hindering Apprehension of a Felon, and has a bail at $1 million. 
 
 Benitez's previous big cases include a successful bid to free Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi from a Mexican jail. He was imprisoned in 2014 for more than 200 days after he said he accidentally drove into the country with three guns. 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://on.wfaa.com/1R2JsDP ||||| An attorney for the Texas teen who cited "affluenza" as a defense in a deadly drunken-driving wreck told FoxNews.com Friday he needed to ensure his client was not "mistreated according to the Mexican constitution." 
 
 Fernando Benitez, who has represented 18-year-old Ethan Couch in Mexico, spoke to FoxNews.com over the phone, and called the teen's current legal fight "an international law case only." He said that as a judge is currently considering Couch's detention and possible deportation, "we are not here to delve into the past." 
 
 Benitez denied reports that Couch had a gun at the time of his detention. 
 
 Couch won a delay in his deportation based on a constitutional appeal in Mexico that could lead to a trial process lasting weeks or even months. Any flaw in the process of his detention by Mexican immigration authorities can be considered a violation of due process and of his human rights, legal analysts say. 
 
 Benitez said Mexican authorities pushed for a "fast-track" deportation, which he argued would expose Couch to "a criminal procedure in the United States which may not be up to Mexican constitutional standards." He said Couch's Texas-based defense team asked him to intervene after the teen was caught in Mexico. 
 
 Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson has said he believes Couch and his mother, Tonya, fled to Mexico in late November after a video surfaced that appears to show Couch at a party where people were drinking, which would be a violation of his probation. The mother and son were arrested Monday after using a phone to order pizza delivery that was traced to a condominium complex in the Mexican resort city of Puerto Vallarta. 
 
 Couch, who was 16 at the time of the crash and was tried in juvenile court, received 10 years' probation for driving drunk and crashing into a disabled SUV parked on the side of the road in 2013. The collision killed four people and injured several others, including passengers in his truck. He pleaded guilty to four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury. 
 
 During the sentencing phase of his trial, a defense expert argued that Couch's wealthy parents had coddled him into a sense of irresponsibility -- a condition the expert termed "affluenza." The condition is not recognized as a medical diagnosis by the American Psychiatric Association, and its invocation drew ridicule. 
 
 Judge Jean Boyd sentenced Couch to probation over the objections of prosecutors who asked for 20 years' detention. Couch's attorneys argued probation would be more effective than detention because Couch could have been eligible for release in as few as two years. 
 
 Unless he files for asylum, he will not be able to stay in Mexico indefinitely, said Aldo Salazar, a Texas attorney also licensed to practice in Mexico. 
 
 "Asylum is granted to those who can prove a well-founded fear of persecution. I'm not sure `affluenza' would qualify," said immigration attorney Nicolas Chavez. 
 
 Tonya Couch, 48, was returned to the United States early Thursday after her deportation from Mexico. She has been charged in Tarrant County with hindering an apprehension, a felony charge that carries a two- to 10-year prison sentence, and is being held on a $1 million bond. 
 
 Ethan Couch was transferred Thursday to a Mexico City immigration detention center in one of the capital's poorest areas. A Mexican immigration official said the affluent young man will have no special privileges at the Agujas immigration detention center, where detainees sleep in common areas and use concrete basins to hand-wash clothes. 
 
 "Is there a chance that Ethan Couch could be successful in staying in Mexico? Yes, but I think it is delaying the inevitable," said Dallas attorney Peter Schulte, who specializes in juvenile law. 
 
 Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson has said she plans to ask a judge to transfer Couch's case to adult court, where he could get up to 120 days in an adult jail, followed by 10 years of probation. If he violates probation again, he could face up to 10 years in prison per death, Wilson said. 
 
 A probation violation hearing is set for Jan. 19. 
 
 Fox News' Will Carr, Dan Gallo and The Associated Press contributed to this report. ||||| FILE - This Dec. 28, 2015, file photo, released by Mexico's Jalisco state prosecutor's office shows who authorities identify as Ethan Couch, after he was taken into custody in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - This Dec. 28, 2015, file photo, released by Mexico's Jalisco state prosecutor's office shows who authorities identify as Ethan Couch, after he was taken into custody in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.... (Associated Press) 
 
 MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican lawyer for a Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense in a fatal drunken-driving accident says his client has dropped an appeal against deportation and will return to Texas to face charges in the coming days. 
 
 Attorney Fernando Benitez said Tuesday that Ethan Couch formally ratified his decision to drop the appeal on Monday. 
 
 "I gave him several options, but he decided to go to Texas to face whatever charges he faces," Benitez. 
 
 The appeal had led to a court injunction against Mexico's original decision to deport Couch. Since then, he has been held at an immigration detention center on the outskirts of Mexico City. 
 
 Benitez expects a judge to close the case Tuesday, noting that would clear the way for Couch to return to Texas in one or two days. 
 
 "I have people at the courthouse ... waiting for notification that the appeal has formally been dropped," Benitez said. "Once the injunction is removed, they will deport Ethan in 24 or 48 hours. 
 
 He said Couch had decided not to continue with the constitutional appeal after "he reviewed the basis of the appeal in Mexico," and because "it was in his interest" to do so. 
 
 Couch and his mother, Tonya Couch, were detained in the resort of Puerto Vallarta in December. His mother was quickly sent back to the U.S. She was released after posting bail. 
 
 Her arrest affidavit alleges that she and her 18-year-old son fled the state in December as Texas prosecutors investigated whether he had violated his probation in the case of a 2013 wreck that killed four people. Mother and son were taken into custody later that month in Puerto Vallarta, after a call for pizza delivery tipped off authorities to their whereabouts. 
 
 Tonya Couch is charged with hindering the apprehension of a felon and could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted. 
 
 During Ethan Couch's trial, a defense witness said the teen was coddled into a sense of irresponsibility by his wealthy parents, a condition the expert called "affluenza." The condition is not recognized as a medical diagnosis by the American Psychiatric Association, and its invocation drew widespread ridicule. 
 
 Upon his return to Texas, Ethan Couch will be held in a juvenile detention center. A juvenile judge will hold a hearing to decide whether to continue to hold him there, book him in an adult jail or let him go, said Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson. 
 
 A separate hearing is scheduled for Feb. 19 to determine whether Couch's case is transferred to the adult system. If it is transferred and Couch violates his probation again, he could face up to 10 years in prison per death.
– The US teen diagnosed with "affluenza" will now be represented by a lawyer described as a "rock star." CBS DFW reports Mexican attorney Fernando Benitez will be representing Ethan Couch as he attempts to avoid deportation back to the US. Benitez is looking into whether Couch's human rights or due process were violated when he was detained in Mexico last week, according to Fox News. He says it could be months before Couch's return to the US is even a possibility. "He hasn't committed a crime in Mexico," Benitez tells WFAA. "Why would Mexico go along with this idea of locating someone and summarily kicking them out of the country so the marshals can grab him across the border? I don't think that's okay." Benitez says Couch's past—in which his family's wealth allowed him to avoid jail after killing four people while driving drunk—is irrelevant, and that this is "an international law case only," Fox reports. The lawyer says the legal treatment Couch gets in the US "may not be up to Mexican constitutional standards." According to CBS, Benitez denies earlier reports Couch was in possession of a gun while in Mexico. Couch is currently being held in an immigration facility in Mexico City, WFAA reports. His mother was deported last Thursday. Benitez is well known for a previous case in which he got a former US Marine out of jail after the Marine "accidentally" entered Mexico with three guns.