The Board of Immigration Appeals has ruled against Joe Giudice.
The Board of Immigration Appeals has ruled against Joe Giudice.
In a statement to ET on Thursday, the Giudice family attorney, James J. Leonard Jr., said that the former Real Housewives of New Jersey star's appeal was denied, but that he will continue to fight against deportation.
"We are extremely disappointed that the Board Of Immigration Appeals has denied Mr. Giudice’s appeal," the statement reads. "We have filed a stay with the Third Circuit Court Of Appeals and will continue to fight to keep Mr. Giudice in the United States, the only country he knows, and reunite him with his wife and four daughters."
Giudice completed his 41-month prison sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Fort Dix, New Jersey, last month, after he pleaded guilty to multiple charges of fraud in 2014. However, a spokesperson for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told ET that 46-year-old Giudice would remain in ICE custody until he was given a court date to appeal deportation. As previously reported last October, Giudice had been ordered by Immigration Judge John Ellington to leave the United States at the end of his prison sentence. He filed a last-minute appeal last November to dispute the order.
In a statement to ET last month, the Giudice family attorney said that they were "hopeful" that the reality star would be home with his wife, Teresa, and their four daughters -- Gia, 18, Gabriella, 15, Milania, 14, and Audriana, 10 -- soon.
“Mr. Giudice has finished serving his federal prison sentence and was transferred early this morning from the Bureau of Prisons to a facility in western Pennsylvania which houses immigration detainees," the statement read. "His lawyers and his family are hopeful that justice will prevail and Mr. Guidice will return home to his wife and four daughters who love him and miss him."
But in January, Teresa said she would separate from her husband if he gets deported back to his native Italy during a taping for the season nine reunion of The Real Housewives of New Jersey. Teresa also served jail time after pleading guilty to multiple charges of fraud in 2014, and was released after nearly a year behind bars in December 2015.
"It's like starting a whole new life, and [my kids] have been through so much already," Teresa told host Andy Cohen. "So, I mean, I'm not doing a long-distance relationship. I'm just not doing it. You know, I want somebody with me every day. And I know exactly what happens, like, I'm sure he'll be with other women. It happens. So, if we do the long-distance thing, it's not gonna work. I’d be like, bye-bye!"
Teresa’s co-star and sister-in-law, Melissa Gorga, told ET she wasn't shocked by her confession.
"I did not think that she was gonna just pick up with her four daughters, who are about to enter college and high school, and move over to Italy," Gorga noted. "I didn't think that that was even an option or something that she was considering."
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