Joe Giudiceisonce again asking to be released from ICE custody— this time, straight to Italy.
On Tuesday, lawyers for theReal Housewives of New Jerseystar filed a petition requesting that he be allowed to move to Italy to await the court’s final decision in hisongoing deportation battle.
It goes on to state that Joe is still hopeful his appeal will be granted, allowing him to stay in the United States. In the event that he does prevail in his case after he has been released to Italy, Joe requests that ICE facilitate his return home.
This comes days after a judge denied the 49-year-old father of four’s request to return to the New Jersey home he shares with wifeTeresa Giudice, 47, and their daughters Gia, 18, Gabriella, 15, Milania, 14, and Audriana, 10.
“Joe is extremely disappointed,” James J. Leonard, the Giudice family attorney, told PEOPLE in a statement at the time. “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.”
Back in October, an immigration court ruled todeport Joeto hisnative Italyafter completing his 41-month sentence for mail, wire and bankruptcy fraud. Even though he has lived in the United States since he was a child, henever obtained American citizenship, and immigrants can be deported if they are convicted of “a crime of moral turpitude” or an “aggravated felony,” according to U.S. law.
Charles Sykes/Bravo/Getty
Since Joe’srelease from prisonin March, he has been in custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, staying at the Clinton County Correctional Facility in Pennsylvania.
He was allowed tocontinue living at the ICE facility in the U.S. as he awaits his fateback in May — a request his lawyers are now trying to lift.
Joe appealed the deportation decision more than once, but his requestswere denied. A final appeal is still pending.
Dave Kotinsky/Getty
Joe and Teresa wereindicted in 2013when they were accused of hiding their fortune in a bankruptcy filing. Joe was also accused of failing to file tax returns between 2004 and 2008.
Teresa wasreleased from federal prisonin 2015 after serving 11 months of a 15-month sentence for fraud. Joe began his sentence for the same crimes in March 2016.
“I’m not doing a long-distance relationship. I’m not doing it,” she said on theRHONJseason 9 reunion. “I want somebody with me every day.”
source: people.com
