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Real House Husband Deportation Appeal Denied

By George Khoury, Esq. on April 19, 2019

While celebrities are known for getting away with all manner of legal trouble that ordinary folks get busted for, one Real House Husband of New Jersey, Joe Giudice, certainly isn't getting any special treatment.

After serving over three years in jail, on his release, he was taken into custody by ICE for deportation. It turns out that reality TV star Teresa Giudice's husband, though he lived in the U.S. since he was a child, never actually became a citizen. And unfortunately for the celebrity couple, federal law permits ICE to deport immigrants that have been convicted of certain crimes, regardless of their immigration status.

From Reality TV to Deportation

The reality TV couple both went to jail, but the sentencing judge was kind enough to let them do so one at a time so that their children could be taken care of. After Teresa Giudice’s 11-month stint behind bars, Joe’s 41-month sentence started. And sadly, the family may have to wait until after Joe is deported before they can be truly reunited.

Recently, Joe lost an appeal fighting the decision to deport him, and while he still has a couple chances left, it's not looking good. The big problem is that the law is rather clear that immigrants who commit crimes involving fraud can be deported, and Joe pleaded guilty to fraud.

But Aren't They Married?

Even though Joe and Teresa are married, because Joe never obtained U.S. citizenship, he can still be deported. While marrying a citizen is one path to citizenship, it is not automatic and requires paperwork and time. Fortunately, they’ll still remain married, unless, of course, Teresa does decide to get a divorce after he is deported, as she has previously stated. Also, notably, it may be too late for Joe to become a citizen, as the same sort of crimes that qualify a person for deportation also disqualify a person for citizenship.

So despite being a celebrity, there may not be anything that Joe can do except keep appealing and maybe pray that he gets pardoned.

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