‘RHONJ’: Teresa Giudice Reveals That ICE Conditions Were ‘Disgusting’
Teresa Giudice from The Real Housewives of New Jersey recently shared that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conditions were “disgusting.”
Teresa’s husband Joe was held in an ICE detention center after he was released from federal prison. He served a 41-month sentence for mail, wire, and bankruptcy fraud. Because Joe is not a United States citizen he was transferred to an ICE facility where his family fought to keep him in the country. Joe is originally from Italy and came to the U.S. when he was a child. He never sought citizenship.
People connected with a source close to the couple who report that conditions inside the ICE facility were terrible. “These past few months in ICE [custody] have been harder for Joe than prison was. The conditions there are terrible,” according to People’s source. “He’s so close to freedom, yet so far away. Not being able to see his family, and knowing that he won’t be able to be back home with them, has really broken him.”
Teresa Giudice shares that her husband went through a lot
A producer asked Teresa what it was like to visit her husband in the ICE facility. “He was going through a lot in there which I know now since we watched the Andy special, we know,” Teresa says in the RHONJ After Show. Bravo producer Andy Cohen chatted with the couple after Joe landed in Italy. Joe said the place was terrible and should be “shut down” because the conditions were so bad.
“There were a lot of things he didn’t even tell Andy that people were like cutting themselves, cutting their wrists, cutting their throats,” Teresa says. “And he was witnessing all of this. And yeah, he wasn’t telling us all of this. Even the living conditions, like he was like confined in a room. And it sucks. Like it’s really f**ked up, but with this whole ICE thing.”
She admits that the detention centers are hurting many families. “It’s not only just screwed up for our family, it’s screwed up for all the families that are going through this. So if I could be a voice, because it’s sad for any family that’s going through this.”
She said it was also expensive
Teresa recounts that calling her husband was expensive. “And it’s so expensive for him even being there,” she says. “Like the phone calls? Out of control. Like the money you have to spend. I was saying to him it’s like $600 a week for the phone calls.”
“So I’m saying it was a lot of money,” she continues. “It’s such a rip-off. Here they’re in this ICE facility, they shouldn’t make it how disgusting it is, like confined and everything. And some of these people want to go back to their country and they can’t even go back to their country. Like they’re held there. It’s all about money.”
The Trump administration is behind the expansion of ICE facilities and implementing a platform to make a profit, Mother Jones reports. Trump has also lowered the standards in facilities which allows for guards to use aggressive techniques and has eliminated many basic requirements for detainees.
