Teresa Giudice’s Lawyer Says ‘Odds Are Against’ Husband Joe in Deportation Appeal

Teresa Giudice’s family lawyer wasn’t optimistic that husband Joe Giudice would ever be able to return to the U.S. after his second deportation appeal was denied by a judge at the end of Wednesday’s Real Housewives of New Jersey. While Giudice admitted she was “shell-shocked” and “numb” at the ruling, she was most worried for the four daughters she and her husband share — Gia, 18, Gabriella, 15, Milania, 14, and Audriana, 10.

“I want him to come home,” Giudice said. “We have four daughters together. I didn’t sign up to do this alone. … I’m scared.”

Looking for the next step to get her husband out of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainment, Giudice and her brother Joe Gorga met with family lawyer James J. Leonard, Jr., who didn’t have much positive news for them.

“He’s in trouble,” Leonard explained of Joe’s status. “His immigration lawyers made the arguments to the lower courts and the courts have denied it very aggressively. They blew up every single argument. The next step is another appeal to the third circuit and saying, ‘Please, the lower courts have made mistakes.’ “

“It could take months,” the lawyer continued. “We have to start the whole process all over again. But the problem is, this is his last chance. And you’re not bringing forward new information, so I think the odds are against Joe at this stage.”

Saying he felt Joe had been “caught in the crossfire” of current immigration policy debate, Leonard told Gorga that Joe’s percentage of coming home to his family was “not good.”

“Fifty? Thirty? Ten percent?” asked Gorga.

“Given what we learned this morning, significantly less,” answered Leonard.

But despite the odds against her, Giudice told her brother she would continue to fight the deportation order, despite her “burying herself financially.”

“I’ve been through financial strain before,” she noted. “I had to pay back taxes, I had to pay off all our debts. So how can I put a price tag on our daughters having their daddy home?”

Since Wednesday’s episode was filmed, Joe was granted permission to leave the country for his native Italy while he awaits the final appeal ruling instead of remaining in custody. Giudice and their daughters were able to reunite with him in November, and the RHONJ star said she would be spending Christmas with her family abroad as well.

The Real Housewives of New Jersey airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.

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