In February and March we focused on the Romeike homeschooling deportation case, DOJ seeks deportation of family persecuted in Germany for homeschooling:
The Romeikes are devout Christians from Germany who wanted to homeschool their children because of what they perceived as the secularist agenda in German public schools.
In the United States, the right to homeschool ones’ own children is accepted, although frequently mocked by the left. The homeschoool movement is thriving in the United States, but in Germany it is illegal, a holdover from Nazi-era law.
The Romeikes fled to the United States in 2008 after they faced mounting fines and the potential of imprisonment. The Romeikes sought asylum, and were granted that asylum by Immigration Judge Lawrence O. Burman in a January 26, 2010 decision after a hearing which included not only the Romeikes but also expert witnesses on homeschooling in Germany….
Judge Burman then went on to contrast the legal protections in the United States for homeschooling, and how the situation the Romeikes faced fared under asylum law. Judge Burman found that there was no past “persecution” as that term is defined in the 6th Circuit, but did find a legitimate fear of future persecution based on religious grounds [and granted the asylum application] ….
The government appealed to the Immigration Board of Appeal, which reversed Judge Burman in a May 4, 2012 decision which contested not only Judge Burman’s recitation of the law, but also Judge Burman’s findings of fact on many issues including the Nazi-era foundation of the current law.
See also, More on the Romeike homeschooling deportation case.
The Romeikes appealed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, but that appeal was denied in mid-May (full opinion embedded at bottom of post), with the court finding that the Romeikes were not singled out for persecution on religious grounds, as the homeschooling ban was enforced against everyone:
When the Romeikes became fed up with Germany’s ban on homeschooling and when their prosecution for failure to follow the law led to increasingly burdensome fmes, they came to this country with the hope of obtaining asylum. Congress might have written the immigration laws to grant a safe haven to people living elsewhere in the world who face government strictures that the United States Constitution prohibits. But it did not. The relevant legislation applies only to those who have a “well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.” 8 U.S.C. § 110l(a)(42)(A). There is a difference between the persecution of a discrete group and the prosecution of those who violate a generally applicable law. As the Board of Immigration Appeals permissibly found, the German authorities have not singled out the Romeikes in particular or homeschoolers in general for persecution. As a result, we must deny the Romeikes’ petition for review and, with it, their applications for asylum.
In mid-July a request for rehearing was denied.
The Romeikes have until mid-October to seek review by the U.S. Supreme Court. In the meantime, a Petition to the White House not to deport the Romeikes has over 127,000 signatures as of this writing.
I’ll have to leave the next questions to the immigration law experts:
Would the Romeikes have been better off under the Gang of 8 bill and/or Obama administrative policy if they did not apply for asylum, which is a legal route to permanent residency, but instead came here illegally?
Romeike v Holder — 6th Circuit Opinion
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
The Sixth Circuit’s reasoning is just as applicable to laws restricting homosexual behavior. They persecute only those who choose to engage in the conduct.
See. If you discriminate and persecute EVERYBODY, then THAT’S OKAY.
Only a twisted mind could conceive of that concept as being anywhere near rational.
This persecuted family are proxies for all of us. This is our government now — the enemy of the individual.
The White House will NEVER rescind the deportation order. There is a “message” here that must be sent.
Dennis Prager had a dispiriting story yesterday about heroic Afghan translators who fought side by side with our troops being denied visas to America. In my view, this is another “message” they are trying to send: DO NOT help American soldiers. Yes, I believe that.
Hmmm. The government let the Boston Marathon bombers family stay here under claims of persecution, even though they routinely traveled back to their native country, and they let illegals flow across the porous border without any more thought than how to give them amnesty.
Maybe the Romeikes should go to Mexico, tan up, get a “hispanic” accent and walk across the border to escape persecution here.
This terrible story is a prime illustration of how malignant the Obama regime is, and that definitely includes his sidekick Eric Holder. For the government to be so invested in deporting decent people who are not hurting anyone and are raising (no doubt) decent children is absolutely appalling — especially when you consider how determined the government is to excuse criminal behavior by Mexican illegals.
Obama & his minions are a sick, twisted bunch.
The irony is just too thick with irony for me to bear.
Yes as in the case where a copious number of Syrian “refugees” are going to be accommodated. In all likelihood, they will be Shiites who hate our guts..
Maybe they should try Canada.
They can hide out at my place. Dick Durbin will be happy.
Why don’t they just stay illegally? Wait, am I a racist for using that word? Anyway, we know there are literally millions of illegals where that the feds are not pursuing, they should just do the same. Lots of German heritage in central Texas, I suspect they could find a happy place to stay around here.
You mean go underground, like Billy Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn?
Only if you have the RIGHT KIND of allies will that work. How else could they remain hidden until JUST the right time, emerge and get off with a mere slap of the wrist?
Tragic. It’s almost as if this family needs to go to a safehouse, or a hideaway along the Underground Railroad.
The Obama regime sickens me.
To equate the German compulsory law with insinuations of Nazism is unsavory and intellectually dishonest. My grandmother lost 90% of her family to the concentration camps, and I don’t take kindly to the inappropriate cavalier bandying of the word.
In numerous nations in the world home schooling is illegal, many of those nations in Europe: Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Latvia, Liechtenstein, etc etc etc etc etc etc etc…. Do you see Nazi influences there too?
You also omitted from this posting and the previous one as well that in September 2006, the European Court of Human Rights upheld the German ban on homeschooling. That certainly shows Germany wasn’t ‘violating international norms’ for insisting children attend public schools, or any of the state-approved German private schools. Further, the court declared that “schools represent society,” and it is in a child’s interest it become part of that society.
Hyper religious Christians had brought the suit to the court. If effect they didn’t want their children to experience the world through the lens of secular German society. They weren’t prohibited from continuing religious training at home for their children, so what’s their beef with German education? They afraid some secular common sense may rub off?
They never should have been afforded political asylum in the first place. If the Romeikes were a family of Scientologists who were unhappy because not enough science fiction was taught in German classes and wanted asylum here, would your hand be raised in favor of granting it?
And if you’re so enamored with home schooling here,I guess you have no problem with radical Islamists home schooling their kids in the arts of Jihad (which I’m sure is already happening).
From your reply, I see that you are perfectly comfortable with the government making a determination about what is best for your child. And that you have an anti-religious bias, which is fine.
I for one am not comfortable with the government deciding what is best for my child.
That IS exactly their “beef”.
Secular government schools are centers of indoctrination. Deny that if you will, claim that it’s better for the children but don’t deny that schools teach and sometimes they teach things that some people don’t want their children to learn or not to learn them at too early an age.
To try to deny that this can happen (and is) is to be either ignorant of the facts or being disingenuous.
To defend the states intrusion into a parent’s right to oversee their child’s learning is to accept that the state has a right to indoctrinate all children as it sees fit and that they parents have no rights or say in the matter.
Thus your claim amounts to a tacit agreement that children belong to the state and are the state’s chattel to be disposed of as it sees fit.
You do not understand the first thing about freedom and your comment about “hyper religious Christians” reveals you’re true faith based orientation; atheism which is noted for being very state friendly and being derisive of those who are religious and desire that the state stay out of their lives and their children’s lives when it comes to indoctrination/learning.
That you are upset at this state controlled indoctrination being called Nazi is also telling. Did that hit to close to home?
“You also omitted from this posting and the previous one as well that in September 2006, the European Court of Human Rights upheld the German ban on homeschooling. That certainly shows Germany wasn’t ‘violating international norms’ for insisting children attend public schools, or any of the state-approved German private schools.”
So what? The EU is no moral authority. It’s not a sovereign government and we don’t have to give a damn what it says.
But it is about to judge the American AWOL ( Iraq) serviceman who applied for political asylum in Germany & lost & is taking it to the EU.
You will give a damn.because it could stamp authority on every US service person in the EU.
Would your grandmother take kindly to your attempting to wrap yourself in moral authority based on her suffering?
“As the Board of Immigration Appeals permissibly found, the German authorities have not singled out the Romeikes in particular or homeschoolers in general for persecution.”
How is criminalizing homeschooling not “singl[ing] out homeschoolers in general for persecution”?
Methinks that if the applicants were Muslim, there would be no problem(s) whatsoever. Y’know, sorta like the IRS and Conservatives…
The international terms of Political Asylum are in desperate need of reworking. Clearly it cannot cover current expectations.
Barely , just barely nations are entitled to govern as they see fit with historical influences. Germany since its unification has demanded strict schooling. A look at the system today is mind boggling in its structure. But that is their history.
There are religious schools but the Romeikes do not like any organised religion curriculum in any school. Remembering that they can easily move to another EU nation – I am guessing that these apply standards to home schooling that they don’t agree with. Ditto emigration to,Canada , Australia or NZ is out for similar objections.
So it is to the US . I recall that this case has been hoisted by a lobby as Political Asylum – when it does look they might have just stayed over visa& been undocumented.
Germany bans the Swastika in all forms due to proven historical malfeasance . It is a bit rough for some Hindus for whom it Is a sacred sign but when in Germany ……
Btw there is an American AWOL soldier who claimed political asylum in Germany . He too lost his case & has been sent off to the EU Court Of The Gods.
Please correct me if I’m wrong.
This statement seems to be saying that persecuting a group of people is not the same as targeting a group of people violating a law that applies to all.
Please don’t take this the wrong way – I don’t mean in any way to equate this to the Nazi persecution and racist hatred of the Jews. However, how is this not similar to the anti-semitic laws that the Nazi’s passed, targeting the Jews, both directly and indirectly?!?!
The Nazi regime used the law to enforce their hate – those laws were “generally applicable” – and if people didn’t obey, there were severe consequences!! The existing mandatory school law, in Germany today, doesn’t allow for ANY parental discretion or choice, because the government wants to control the student’s indoctrination into what they believe is “right.” If they teach that God is a myth, or something other than what the family believes, they have no recourse. That is a form of persecution. And the German government today WILL take your children, even put them in a psychiatric unit if they so choose, to keep them in public school. Yes, really.
This family is not alone. There are MANY, mostly Christians, who homeschool in Germany – they are a TARGETED GROUP, based on their belief that the public schools don’t teach their religious ideologies, but rather teach secular atheistic ideology. As such, they were under severe persecution in Germany.
How is this case NOT similar to the old Nazi, anti-Jewish laws? This law is, in fact, one of the Hitler regime’s laws….and yes, it’s still on the books. No parental rights, no freedom of choice on schooling in today’s Germany – not since the 1930’s. (In the link, see the “Notes” section for the relevant article, in PDF format – pp. 229-248, in particular.)
That is persecution.
I have a child in the German school system.
There is religious instruction (student can choose protestant or catholic) in schools themselves. I believe students may choose a course in ethics if they choose not to take a religious course.
No student is tied to their residency re: schooling. A child may go to school anywhere in Germany they wish. Older students often do to specialize in specific areas. There are alternative schools (i.e Waldorf schools) in Germany.
Younger students go to school from c. 8am to noon or perhaps 1 PM. Older students have a variable schedule like a college schedule. They often have time off during the day.
School is required up to about the 9th/10th grade (US equivalent). Some students stop there and become apprentices at that point, going to school part of the week and working the other part.
After basic schooling there are multitudes of college prep, business or tech school “high school” options a student may choose for further education. Anywhere in Germany they wish.
There is no where near the level of social engineering in German schools as there are in US schools. Not close. German schools are tied more into industry IMO, in the sense that industry has input into education relative to projected needs of the future workforce.
Your post is hyperbolic. German schools are more like the schools were in the US in the 50’s IMO.
In disclosure, my children were homeschooled, attended private schools or public schools during their educational years. I am not advocating one system over another.
Even though homeschooling is not allowed in Germany, the short school day for younger students and the alternatives available for older students give a parent a lot of options to avoid schools they fell may be repressive to their ideology.
Enforcing laws created by the Nazis? Thrown in jail for home-schooling your children!
Obama and Holder will always take the wrong side of every issue. It must be in their DNA.
What about if they were Muslims who did not want to go to German schools- would you be championing them?
That’s a great question and a way to gut check yourself. Hopefully everyone here ha had enough lessons in Liberty to answer that question with a resounding YES! I don’t care if they were Islamic Fundamentalist who openly supported Hamas, they should not be forced to send their children 5 days a week to be locked in a room and listen to the man in front of them. That’s bogus.
Now when they start aiding and abetting murders (aka terrorists) and conspire to commit such murders with or without their children, by all means, lock em up.
In no instance, to me, does the nature of the request not to subject your children to public schools via mandate not violate the eternal rights of liberty bestowed upon individuals, and the accompanying responsibilities levied upon parents.
nogreatercause.org
Eternal rights of liberty bestowed upon individuals.
Reminds me of the Kim Wilde song -Kids in America – anyhow the rest of us must go to school or are fighting to go to school & in places like Kenya waiting outside in the hot sun waiting for their shift to enter the ( white man colonial ) school. 3 shifts per day yet the parents send them off in their English style school uniforms & they wait in line patiently.
Freedom must be just another word when you have everything & nothing left to do.
Only in America.
They WOULD have been better off to come into the country on a tourist visa and overstay it without trying to do the right thing. Then they wouldn’t have be facing deportation now.
Perverse system…
[…] Romeikes | homeschooling | asylum | Germany – Legal Insurrection https://legalinsurrection.com/The Romeike family, who fled Germany because of a ban on homeschooling, has lost its appeal in the 6th Circuit. […]
[…] German homeschooling family closer to deportation In February and March we focused on the Romeike homeschooling deportation case, DOJ seeks deportation of family persecuted in Germany for homeschooling […]
There is a New (2nd) Petition at http://wh.gov/lgXbQ
Please sign the Petition and keep the pressure on for these peoples freedom.
You can Facebook, Twitter or Email this link… Please pass it along and keep it going… we need another 100,000 Signatures to keep this in the spotlight.