I have never seen the show, I promise, but I couldn’t
help but notice some interesting headlines in the news regarding the Real
Housewives of New Jersey cast. Real
Housewife Teresa Giudice and her husband Jose Giudice were recently convicted
of conspiracy and bankruptcy fraud with Joe being sentenced to 41 months
confinement. Where this gets interesting
is that Joe did not realize (supposedly) that he is not actually a U.S.
citizen, but rather just a permanent resident of the United States, and could
be deported for his crimes. Apparently
Joe was born in Italy and brought to the U.S. at a young age, and did not
understand that the steps to becoming a U.S. citizen were never taken.
Unless Joe can somehow negotiate some sort of deal
with immigration, you most likely will not be seeing him in any future episodes
of Real Housewives for two reasons.
First, a conviction for fraud, where the loss is $10,000 or more is
considered an aggravated felony for immigration purposes. An aggravated felony conviction almost always
leads to deportation and a bar from ever returning to the U.S.
Second, Joe says he didn’t realize he was not a U.S.
citizen, which would lead one to assume that he probably told a lot of people,
in a lot of different settings that he in fact was a U.S. citizen. This is pure speculation, but he may have
told the DMV, banks, insurance companies, lending companies, employers and
others that he was in fact a U.S. citizen.
He may have even registered to vote.
Making a false claim to U.S. citizenship and/or registering to vote and
voting are all grounds for deportation (with few exceptions). If the government decides to do a little digging
and in fact finds proof that Joe falsely claimed U.S. citizenship or voted, he
could be subject to even more grounds of deportation.
If deportation proceedings are not initiated against
Joe that would mean that for some reason the government has decided to use its
discretion and not seek deportation. I
for one would be outraged if that were the case since I see people every day
who face deportation for things as petty as driving without a valid license who
are not the beneficiaries of discretion.
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