• • Morristown, TN - The Romeike Story
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• • Obama wrong to deport home school family seeking religious freedom

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As previously reported, Ewe and Hannelore Romeike have been battling the matter in the courts for several years while continuing to raise their six children in rural Tennessee. The Romeike family fled to the United States in 2008 after German authorities demanded that they stop homeschooling in violation of national law.

Homeschooling was made illegal in the country in 1938 under the dictatorship of Adolph Hitler, and the law has never been repealed, but rather strengthened. In 2007, the German Supreme Court ruled that the country’s mandate that children be sent to public school is necessary to “counteract the development of religious and philosophically motivated parallel societies.”

German officials have been cracking down on families that keep their sons and daughters at home, and have threatened them with fines, imprisonment and even the removal of the children from the household. The Romeike children were taken from their parents for a time before fleeing to the United States for refuge.
 

In 2010, Memphis immigration judge Lawrence Burman granted the family asylum, stating that he believed the Romeike’s would face persecution for their faith if they returned to Germany. However, the Department of Justice later appealed the ruling to the Sixth Circuit, which overturned Burman’s decision.

“[T]he Romeikes [have] not shown that Germany’s enforcement of its general school-attendance law amounts to persecution against them, whether on grounds of religion or membership in a recognized social group,” the court ruled. “There is a difference between the persecution of a discrete group and the prosecution of those who violate a generally applicable law.”

In court documents filed by the Department of Justice, the Obama administration asserted that the requirement that German children be sent to public school is valid as the government seeks to create an “open, pluralistic society.” It asserted that German officials are not persecuting the family by mandating attendance since the law applies to all citizens, regardless of their religion.

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SAN DIEGO, December 6, 2013 — They fled to the United States for religious freedom. Where will they go next if such freedom is denied?

An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is the latest dramatic chapter in an effort to save an Evangelical Christian family from being deported back to their home country of Germany where religious liberty was being pounded away by the government.
 

At stake is the determination of two parents (Uwe and Hannelore Romeike) to home school their children based upon their own religious convictions.

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Therese Cano of Florida has been in an ongoing child visitation battle with her husband, and during the process of arbitration, the court had appointed a psychologist and a guardian ad litem to oversee the matter.

During a recent hearing, the psychologist testified that the children, who were being homeschooled by their mother, were doing well academically. However, the guardian ad litem told the court that her “gut reaction” was that the children should be sent to public school where they could socialize with others.

As a result, the judge ordered that the children attend public school and lectured Cano about keeping them at home.
 

“When are they going to socialize?” he asked the mother, according to reports. “Is homeschool going to continue through college and/or professional schooling? At which point are these children going to interact with other children, and isn’t that in their best interest?”

Cano’s husband, Alejandro, had raised no objection to the way the children were being schooled.

Therefore, following the ruling, Cano contacted the Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) and explained her story. The organization then decided to file an amicus brief in support of the right to homeschool and to prove that homeschooled children receive adequate socialization.

“It is truly unfortunate that after decades of homeschooling parents are still fighting a battle against ignorance and ‘What about socialization?’ ” Jim Mason, HSLDA’s litigation counsel wrote in a report about the matter. “We see this as an excellent opportunity to educate judges in Florida about homeschooling success.”