An official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement revealed last week that ICE had started removal proceedings against The Real Housewives of New Jersey star Joe Giudice, but a new report indicates that a judge has already given Joe the boot by ordering he be deported!
Radar Online reports that the Department of Justice has confirmed that “an immigration judge ordered Mr. Giudice removed from the United States on March 14, 2018.”
The rep from the DOJ’s Executive Office for Immigration Review also reveals that Joe and his legal team have filed two motions in an attempt to avoid his deportation. “Mr. Giudice applied for a cancellation of removal on May 8, 2018, and filed a motion to terminate on May 24,” the DOJ official says. “Both requests remain pending.”
This most recent report seems to be in direct conflict with the statement made by Joe’s attorney, James J. Leonard Jr., last week. “I can state with absolute certainty that no decision has been made regarding the immigration status of Joe Giudice,” the attorney said. “The same immigration detainer that was lodged against him in March of 2016 remains in place today, but I want to be absolutely clear about this, no judicial authority has made any decision regarding what will happen with that detainer.”
Joe is currently being held at the Federal Correctional Complex in Allenwood, Pennsylvania, which is a hearing prison. His most recent hearing on his immigration status was on June 20, with his scheduled release date being March of 2019.
All previous reports indicated that Joe would most certainly be able to remain in the US until the conclusion of his current prison sentence, but an ICE spokesman tells Radar that isn’t necessarily the case. “An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson exclusively told Radar Giudice could be deported even before his sentence ends in March 2019,” the site reports.
Meanwhile, Radar spoke to an “insider” who says Joe remains unphased and unafraid. “He’s convinced he’s not getting reported [sic],” the insider said. “He says it’s not going to happen.”
In case you were unaware, Joe’s parents immigrated to the United States from Italy when he was a year old. But, they never went through the process of making him a naturalized citizen, and that is why he is eligible to be deported. His conviction for fraud is on the short list of things that clearly merit deportation, so it appears as though he has a tough battle ahead if he hopes to remain in the United States.
It is believed that his strongest defense will be to argue that his deportation would cause extreme hardship for his wife and children — but will that be enough? Another argument that would normally be made in deportation proceedings for someone who has been in the country legally for more than four decades would be his strong ties to the community, but Joe’s convictions seem to indicate that he and “the community” are not on very good terms.
I confess that I am fascinated by all of this, and anxious to see how it all plays out. Wat do you think? Should Joe be deported or should he be allowed to stay?
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
