Last week, Joe Giudice’s family responded to the stunning news that he will be deported upon his release from prison.
Daugther Gia issued a desperate plea, urging her incarcerated father to fight this deportation order with an enthusiastic appeal.
Now, she is using her social media clout to defend her dad and call for support from others.
Gia Giudice, eldest daughter of Teresa and Joe, took to Instagram to rally support for her father.
“This is one of my favorite pictures of me and my dad,” she began, referring to the image you’re about to see.
“My father is no threat to society,” she affirms.
Joe was arrested for fraud. That can be harmful, but not what usually comes to mind when you describe a dangerous criminal.
“He is one of the most warm hearted people I know,” Gia writes.
Here is the photo.
The touching throwback photo shows a young, fit Joe and a very young Gia.
Gia continues: “he would never harm a soul.”
“He puts everyone else before himself.” she says.
He and Teresa did make a deal to have separate prison sentences, even though that kept them apart longer, so that they could be there for their girls.
“I know who my father is,” Gia writes. “And I think many of you do too.”
Gia isn’t pretending that her father is perfect or incapable of breaking laws.
“My father did his time,” Gia acknowledges. “And learned from his mistakes.”
“Isn’t being in there supposed to make you realize your mistakes so you can become a better person?” Gia asked.
Perhaps if prisons were structured differently, designed for real rehabilitation instead of mere containment, more people would share Gia’s perspective.
But Gia believes in rehabilitation, writing: “and that’s exactly what my father did.”
“He hasn’t felt or looked this good since he was in his 30s,” Gia admits.
In that way, she’s showing that he is relatable to many other people whom time has worn down.
“We have so many plans to do as a family when he gets out,” she shares.
“I need my father to be here,” Gia writes.
She is a teen on the cusp of adulthood. She has already had too much of a massive disruption in her life.
“My father belongs with us and his entire family,” she affirms.
She reminds her fans and followers that Joe is Italian by birth, but doesn’t actually know the country any better than she does.
“My father came into this country when he was one year old,” she writes.
Because of this, “the United States is the only country he knows.”
She then encourages those reading her message to “spread the word” about how her father should not be deported for his non-violent crimes.
She even includes the hashtag: “#bringjoehome.”
Immigration and deportation are complicated subjects.
Some would gleefully deport Joe for the “crime” of having been born on foreign soil.
Others don’t blame him for that, but would disparage him for not seeking citizenship while married to Teresa — and for committing fraud.
But something to consider with deportation is that someone who has lived their entire life here, who has family here, is part of the community.
Unless that person is a threat, it is difficult to argue that the good of giving someone the boot outweighs the bad.
Gia would miss her father. Her whole family would.
