Homeschooling in Germany is illegal and is punished harshly with fines, imprisonment, and even the taking away of children from their families. A family that suffered that persecutionfor homeschooling their children came to the United States seeking religious freedom, as so many other immigrants have done, and an immigration judge recognized their jeopardy in their home country and granted them asylum. But Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Homeland Security are disputing that ruling and are seeking to deport the homeschooling family.
From Mary Jackson at World Magazine:
A family homeschooling safely in rural Tennessee may be forced to return to their native Germany, where the parents likely face huge fines and criminal penalties, and could lose custody of their five school-age children.
Uwe and Hannelore Romeike are looking to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to give them permanent refugee status. But Attorney General Eric Holder is disputing their case, arguing Germany’s ban on homeschooling fails to violate the family’s fundamental rights.
The Romeikes fled Germany in 2008 after authorities fined them thousands in euros and forcibly took their children because they homeschool. In 2010, a U.S. immigration judge granted the Romeikes political asylum—the first time this status was granted based on compulsory schooling laws. The judge found the family has legitimate fear of persecution in Germany, where a small group of Christian homeschooling families have already been jailed, fined, and stripped of their children.
But the Department of Homeland Security immediately disputed the judge’s decision. Last May, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) sided with the government. It may take up to a year for a circuit court ruling, according to the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), which is representing the Romeikes.
via WORLD | Christian homeschoolers losing deportation fight | Mary Jackson | Feb. 13, 2013.
For more, see this.
I thought the Obama administration is supposed to be friendly to immigration and to immigrants! The administration doesn’t want to deport illegal aliens, but wants to deport legal aliens, at least those with a religious freedom claim?
What is there about this case, do you think, that makes the administration want to get rid of these people?
HT: David Berger
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