Joe Giudice claims his popularity led to some awkward moments while he was detained by ICE. The Real Housewives of New Jersey personality was ordered to be deported by a judge in October as he served a 41-month prison sentence for fraud. Upon his release he was immediately detained by ICE and kept in a detention center until he requested to be sent to Rome while waits for ruling on his latest appeal.
In a new sneak peek from Joe and Teresa Giudice‘s upcoming interview with Andy Cohen, Joe opened up about his final moments in the United States. He said the immigration officers stopped to take photographs with him as he was escorted to the plane to Italy.
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“I had two immigration officers, one on each side, taking selfies with me the whole time,” Joe told Cohen in the video, adding that they left from an airport in Washington, D.C. “One guy in front, and I think there was someone else who carried a gun on a plane. You know, I’m a very dangerous guy.”
Joe also said that the same officers asked him touring advice on places they should check out while in Italy, PEOPLE first reported.
“They stood on the plane all the way until we got to Rome. I told them where to go and have a good time, because they were staying there ’til Monday, so they were heading out to a few islands in Naples and then they were heading back home,” Joe continued. “So told them where to go. I gave them recommendations to go and have a good time.”
Joe added he was never handcuffed while he was transported to the European country.
“They wanted to handcuff me. I was like, ‘Listen, I’m not getting in no handcuffs,’” Joe told Cohen. “They’re like, ‘Will you behave?’ It’s like, ‘What the hell am I going to do? If I wanted to leave, I would like just kick your butts and leave. I ain’t going to do that. I go, ‘I want to go on the plane. I want to get the hell out of here.’”
The clip comes form the upcoming Watch What Happens Live special featuring Joe and Teresa’s first interview together since he went to prison in March 2016. The couple has been living apart since Teresa served 11 months in prison for the same crimes.
Joe moved to the United States as a child and remained a legal resident, never obtaining American citizenship. Immigrants can be deported if they are convicted “of a crime of moral turpitude” or an “aggravated felony.”
Cohen’s special interview with Teresa and Joe Giudice airs Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.
