Why Viewers Shouldn't Expect To Hear Much About Joe Giudice On 'RHONJ' Season 9

It's been a difficult few years for the Giudice family. In 2014, both halves of the Real Housewives of New Jersey couple pleaded guilty to bank fraud, mail and wire fraud, and bankruptcy fraud, according to Entertainment Tonight. Since then, Teresa served a little under a year in prison, while her husband Joe continues to serve his time behind bars. He was given a 41-month federal prison sentence for his crimes, per USA Today, which is expected to wrap up in March of 2019. The bad news is, on October 10, 2018, a Pennsylvania judge ruled that he be deported to his native Italy after being released, according to the same report. Teresa told ET that the cameras weren't around to document her family's reaction to the news, so it's not likely that Joe will be on Season 9 of RHONJ other than in spirit.

She also said that she and her husband are filing an appeal against the judges order, according to Bravo. So as of right now, it's hard to determine what the outcome will be in six short months, let alone whether or not Real Housewives fans will get a front row seat. "I can't predict the future," she said.

But she does realize that, especially with her husband unable to contribute to their family, her job as a reality TV persona is providing for her four daughters, which is very important. "What comes first is our daughters and we're going to fight this... I'm focusing 110 percent on my daughters," she told ET. "This show is my job. I'm putting food on the table for them."

According to USA Today, Joe was unaware that he doesn't hold American citizenship. He moved to the United States with his parents as a 1-year-old. “When I married him, I didn’t know," Teresa told People. "I remember I tried to make him, I tried to fill out the paperwork," regarding permanent U.S. citizenship. “It was never on my radar. It’s not like I married an immigrant and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I have to make him an American citizen.’ Never thought of that at all,” she said. “I mean, I guess that that was his parent’s responsibility. I mean they came here when he was a year old. I mean his brother and sister, they were born here. And they’re American.”

Now, Teresa and her family are faced with the decision of whether or not they should prepare to move to Italy along with Joe if he is in fact deported in March. "It’s sad, families shouldn’t be broken up this way," Giudice told USA Today. "Especially when it’s a nonviolent, it’s a white collar crime. He’s paying for his mistakes. I'm just taking it day by day."

A Bravo sneak peek video reveals that she and her two oldest daughters went to visit Joe at the Pennsylvania prison in which he's staying, but the video cuts before they went inside. They only had a three hour window to visit with him, and Teresa said on the show that she wanted to give her daughters all the time she could to spend with him. That leaves a lot of room for questions and serious conversations regarding his release that they potentially didn't have time for. Only time will tell what conclusion they will come to as a family.