'Tiger King' Joe Exotic's husband pleads to return to US
'Tiger King' Joe Exotic's husband says he's been tossed from one cage into another — and now fears for his life in cartel-infested Mexico after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials booted him from the US.
'There is a lot of organized crime here and there is no security,' Jorge Flores Maldonado told The Post this week from Tamaulipas state, in northeastern Mexico — where he is begging to come back to the US.
5 Jorge Flores Maldonado had been 'depressed' since getting deported to his native Mexico May 17 — and hasn't been able to communicate with his husband, Joe Exotic, he told The Post.
Instagram/@joe_exotic
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'I am a very famous person and right now I run the risk of being kidnapped.
'The cartels are very active here — I cannot even go out on the street,' he added. 'They think I have money because of my husband.'
Maldonado, 33, was deported by ICE May 17 after getting busted in August for allegedly driving a car loaded with six other undocumented immigrants across the US-Mexican border.
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It was inside a federal lockup in Fort Worth, Texas, where sparks flew between the migrant and the most infamous cat-wrangler in America.
5 Maldonado now fears for his safety in the cartel-ridden Tamaulipas state of Mexico.
Obtained by the New York Post
'It was a beautiful romance,' Maldonado said, referring to his relationship-turned-marriage to Exotic, aka Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage, 63, who is in his fifth year of a 21-year sentence for plotting to hire a hitman to murder his arch-rival Carole Baskin, and for violating federal wildlife laws.
'When I arrived at the prison, Joe wanted to get to know me, he wanted to talk to me, and since I didn't know English, we would translate back and forth because he said, 'I want to know more about you,'' Maldonado recalled.
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Despite never having seen Netflix's hit series, 'Tiger King,' or knowing anything about the caged celebrity, Maldonado said they quickly fell head-over-heels during long walks in the prison yards, shared workouts and meals, library dates and movie nights.
5 Maldonado and Exotic tied the knot inside of the federal Texas lockup in November.
Obtained by the New York Post
'He is very nice, he made me laugh at anything, he was always happy,' he gushed. 'We had a very beautiful routine.'
To bridge the language barrier, Exotic took Spanish classes while his beau attempted to pick up English — although Maldonado insisted on speaking only in his native tongue during a call with The Post this week.
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They sealed their unlikely love story with a prison wedding in November, marking the occasion with tattoos of 'Joe Exotic' on Maldonado's neck, and an image of Exotic's face inked on his left forearm.
5 'He is very nice, he made me laugh at anything, he was always happy,' Maldonado said about Exotic.
Instagram/@joe_exotic
5 Exotic, aka Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage, is currently in his fifth year of a 21-year sentence for plotting to hire a hitman to murder his arch-rival Carole Baskin, and for violating federal wildlife laws.
Netflix US/AFP via Getty Images
But the romance hit a wall when ICE shipped Maldonado back across the border, cutting off contact with his big-cat-loving husband.
'I feel terrible, I have been very depressed, desperate,' he said.
Maldonado is now pleading for a miracle – and a pardon.
'I want permission to return to the United States and I want Donald Trump to pardon my husband as well – that's what I want. I want him to get out of prison, so we can move to the beach. We have many plans. We want to start working again, to do a lot of things, to live a beautiful life.
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'Joe wants to return to his music…and I want to support him,' he added.
When asked by a reporter if he would consider pardoning Exotic in April 2020, Trump said he didn't know anything about the case but vowed to 'take a look.'
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