PHOTOSTeresa Giudice Reacts To Judge Denying Joe’s Release From ICE Custody
Sept. 24 2019, Updated 2:41 p.m. ET
Teresa Giudice is going through a rough time in the wake of her husband Joe’s ongoing deportation case. The former Real Housewives of New Jersey star requested on September 11 to be released from ICE custody in order to return to his family home in New Jersey until a final decision is made on whether or not he will be deported to Italy. A judge denied his request on September 20 and Teresa spoke candidly about the court's decision. Joe has been in ICE custody since March.
“It’s a sad time with my husband and everything, so we’re going to try and work it out as best we can,” Teresa, 47, told Us Weekly at the GNO Weekend: An Evening with the Celebrity Housewives on September 21.
“The most important thing is our four daughters, so I’m hoping Joe is able to stay in the United States,” she added. Joe, 47, and Teresa share daughters Gia, 18, Gabriella, 15, Milania, 14, and Audriana, 10.
In June, the RHONJ star opened up about the effect of her husband’s deportation case on their children. “If he gets deported, he’ll never be able to go to their graduations, celebrate their birthdays, anything. He’s going to be missing out on so much,” she said in a Bravo Insider video. “The girls adore their father and no child should have to go through what my daughters are going through. They should have their daddy here.”
Joe was released to ICE custody after serving a 41-month sentence for mail, wire and bankruptcy fraud.
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In October 2018 a judge ruled that he be deported back to Italy, where he was born, following his prison sentence.
Joe has appealed the decision multiple times and is awaiting the decision of his final appeal while in ICE custody.
“Joe is extremely disappointed,” James J. Leonard, the Giudice family attorney, told People in a statement on September 20 after his request for release was denied. “He spent the last six months in a cage not able to hug or kiss his wife or daughters when they came to visit him. We treat animals in shelters better than we treat human beings in these ICE facilities.”
“Given his sentence, 41 months in prison, two years of supervised release that led him to immigration custody, he is a flight risk and a danger to society. He has numerous interactions with police. He has a family here and there is reason to believe that he won’t turn himself in to ICE custody if he is ordered to be deported,” prosecutors explained at the bond hearing.
