Homeschool family fighting for freedom to express faith and stay in United States
A Christian family persecuted in Germany for homeschooling their children is facing deportation threats in the United States. Uwe Romeike, his wife Hannelore along with their 7 children have lived in the States for 15 years, making their home in Tennessee. The irony is that our southern border is seemingly open to anyone who shows up, yet, this family is threatened with deportation. Now they may be forced to move back to Germany, where homeschooling is illegal and indoctrination in public schools is imminent.
Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), the largest homeschool advocacy group in the United States, is defending the Romeikes and their seven children as they seek the freedom to homeschool their children in the United States—a freedom that is severely curtailed in their native land of Germany.
On Sept. 6, 2023, the Romeikes were told during a routine check-in at their local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office that they had four weeks to secure passports and return to Germany. The news came without warning, and with no apparent cause or explanation.
“The Romeike family should be able to stay in the United States and home educate their children,” said HSLDA president Jim Mason. “America is a land of freedom and opportunity, and there are few freedoms or opportunities more important than the ability of parents to safely direct the education of their own children, without fear of punishment or persecution.”
The Romeike family decided in 2006 to home educate their children in Germany based on two core beliefs: a deep conviction that they were responsible to God for their children’s education, and a growing concern that the content of the German public school’s curriculum—particularly anti-Christian and sexual elements—threatened to harm their children. After enduring years of harassment, fines that exceeded their family income, and the forced removal of their children from their home, the family fled Germany.
In August of 2008, HSLDA assisted the Romeikes in securing visas to enter the United States, where they applied for asylum. The Department of Homeland Security granted the Romeikes asylum, but immigration officials overturned the decision. After five years of legal battles, the Obama administration granted the Romeikes indefinite deferred action status in 2013.
Over the last 10 years, the Romeikes have had to regularly report to their local ICE office in Tennessee, but have otherwise been allowed to live, work, and homeschool their children in peace. We are stunned to hear that the Romeikes have been ordered to return to Germany, and are actively working to secure their continued, lawful future here in the United States.
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