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Joe Giudice Requests to Return Home with His Family Amid Deportation Battle
The Real Housewives of New Jersey husband requested to be released from custody at a hearing.
Joe Giudice wants to be back home in New Jersey with his family.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey husband appeared at a bond hearing via video on Wednesday, September 11. His lawyer requested that he be released from the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and be allowed to return home so that he can await the decision regarding his deportation appeal with his family, a source told PEOPLE.
Teresa Giudice was also present at the hearing, along with Joe's mother, sister, and two dozen other family members, PEOPLE reports. Teresa and Joe's four daughters — Gia, 18, Gabriella, 14, Milania, 13, and Audriana, 9 — were all in school and did not attend the hearing.
The hearing lasted one hour, according to the source. No decision was made, but the judge is expected to issue a written decision within a week.
The Giudice family attorney James Leonard Jr. confirmed the bond hearing to Page Six the day before it was to take place. “This is obviously a very critical hearing for Joe and his family,” he told the publication. “We are hopeful that the Court will grant him bond.”
A judge ordered that Joe be deported back to Italy, where he was born, in October 2018. Joe has been staying in "a facility in western Pennsylvania, which houses immigration detainees" since he was released from federal prison in March. He began his 41-month prison sentence for mail, wire, and bankruptcy fraud in March 2016.
Joe's first appeal of the deportation decision was denied in April. However, he and his legal team vowed to "continue to fight" to keep him in the country, winning some small victories since then, including the permission to stay in the U.S. amid his legal battle and receiving support from 27 former immigration judges.
Of course, Joe has received a lot of love from family, friends, and fans along the way, both in person and on social media. Teresa opened up to Bravo Insider about how devastating it would be for her family if Joe were to leave the country, which you can view, above. "If he gets deported, he'll never be able to go to their graduation[s], celebrate their birthdays, anything," she said of their four kids. "He's going to be missing out on so much. 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."
