Ethan “Affluenza” Couch’s mother, Tonya Couch, has been deported to the United States, Mexican officials told the Associated Press on Wednesday. The fugitive teen, meanwhile, will likely remain in Mexico for at least another two weeks and possibly several months.

Couch, who is wanted for violating his parole, and his mother, who is wanted for hindering her son’s apprehension, were detained on Monday in the Mexican resort town of Puerto Vallarta, after fleeing Texas (following a going-away party) earlier this month.

At a news conference in Houston on Wednesday, Richard Hunter, chief deputy for the U.S. Marshals Service in South Texas, said that a three-day court injunction granted to Ethan Couch by a Mexican judge will put off his return until later next month at the earliest.

From the AP:

The ruling earlier Wednesday by the Mexican court gives a judge three days to decide whether the younger Couch has grounds to challenge his deportation based on arguments that kicking him out of the country would violate his rights.

Hunter said the legal maneuver basically takes the decision out of an immigration agent’s hands and asks a higher authority to make the deportation decision. He said such cases can often take anywhere from two weeks to several months, depending on the priorities of the local courts.

“It also depends on the fact the Couches have legal counsel. And it seems to me, if they wanted to, they could pay them as much money as they want to drag this thing out,” Hunter said. “We’re hopeful that’s not the case. We’re hopeful the Mexican immigration court will make a quick and decisive decision and return the Couches to America.”

Couch and his mother were being held by immigration officials in Guadalajara.

On Tuesday, Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson said that she planned to request that Couch’s case be transferred to adult court—now 18, he was 16 years old when he plead guilty to four counts of manslaughter in a drunk-driving incident—where he could face up to four months of jail time followed by 10 years of probation. Were he to violate that probation, Wilson said, Couch could face up to 10 years in prison per death. (So: 40 years.)

Photo via AP Images. Contact the author of this post: brendan.oconnor@gawker.com.