US Court Denies German Home-Schoolers Asylum

[BroomWagon]

US Court Denies German Home-Schoolers Asylum

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Obama administration’s refusal to grant asylum to the Romeike family.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder filed against the family, arguing that asylum should not be granted because home schooling isn’t a fundamental right protected under religious freedom.

The Romeikes fled Germany in 2008 facing criminal prosecution for home schooling. In 2010, they were granted political asylum by immigration Judge Lawrence Burman, but his decision was overturned by the Board of Immigration Appeals last year.

I looked and did not see this covered anywhere.


Appeals court rules against Romeikes- Citizen Tribune (hometown newspaper apparently)

Morristown residents Uwe and Hannelore Romeike do not qualify for political asylum in the United States based on claims the compulsory school-attendance law in Germany exposes their children to anti-Christian values, an appellate court ruled Tuesday afternoon.

The unanimous Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit decision does not procedurally prescribe what will happen next in the case of the Romeikes and their six children.

The German family’s lead attorney indicated earlier he would appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court if he did not prevail in the lower court, which did not address the attorney’s request for stay of deportation.

The Romeikes came to Morristown in 2008 because they faced heavy fines – and possible lost of custody – for refusing to enroll their children in state-run German schools.

 

[estesbob]

US Court Denies German Home-Schoolers Asylum

I looked and did not see this covered anywhere.


Appeals court rules against Romeikes- Citizen Tribune (hometown newspaper apparently)

But the Boston Bombers were given Asylum. Go figure.

 

[CatholicGeek1]

The family of the Boston bombers were given refugee status because they were fleeing a civil war that endangered their lives and their human rights.

Homeschooling is not a human right, and this is not a valid reason for seeking asylum. If you don’t like the laws in your country, immigrate somewhere, don’t show up looking for asylum, its not the point of asylum.

 

[jediliz]

I wonder if this family were illegal immigrants from some random country…would they be allowed to be here? Is it because they are Christians? (And btw, they are Evangelical, not Catholic christian).

Now they will probably lose custody of their children if they are forced to go back to Germany. Germany should just get rid of that nazi like law that ‘children can’t be home schooled’. :sad_yes:

 

[JMJSHJ]

The family of the Boston bombers were given refugee status because they were fleeing a civil war that endangered their lives and their human rights.

Homeschooling is not a human right, and this is not a valid reason for seeking asylum. If you don’t like the laws in your country, immigrate somewhere, don’t show up looking for asylum, its not the point of asylum.

Religous freedom is a human right and they weren’t permitted to raise their children without undue interference from the State.

 

[BroomWagon]

Thank goodness, there will be appeals to this. So we will see. This is a mockery of justice really.

 

[april32010]

Religous freedom is a human right and they weren’t permitted to raise their children without undue interference from the State.

 

[CatholicGeek1]

Religous freedom is a human right and they weren’t permitted to raise their children without undue interference from the State.

Homeschooling is not a religious right. The parents can teach whatever religion they want.

 

[Aelred_Minor]

Religious freedom does have rational limits. For instance someone who claims human sacrifice is an essential part of their religion still should not be permitted to do it.

But it seems to me this is not a case like that. Parents, not the state, are the primary educators of their children. Their rights as parents alone probably constitute a natural right to educate their children as they see fit, without government interference, even before you factor in their religious concerns. All this is assuming their “education” was not itself something abusive, like teaching the children to perform immoral acts or something like that.

 

[revert_jen]

The government’s main point appears to be that “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.”

As much as I hate to agree with Holder on anything, I think this might make sense. Frankly, even a country this big couldn’t hold all of the residents of every country that has "government strictures that the United States Constitution prohibits.”

But I’m not sure I understand, anyway. Isn’t home-schooling allowed anywhere in the EU? Because I don’t think you need anything but a passport to immigrate between EU countries. I’d be happy to welcome them, but I don’t understand why they needed to come here to escape mandatory attendance at state-run schools.

But perhaps they could just move with no forwarding address and wait for amnesty…

–Jen

 

[scipio337]

The family of the Boston bombers were given refugee status because they were fleeing a civil war that endangered their lives and their human rights.

There is a civil war in Kyrgyzstan and Dagestan??

The two are 1/2 ethnic Chechnyan, but neither was born, or lived in Chechnya. They were given Derivative Refugee or Asylum Status.

 

[estesbob]

Funny that the same people pushing for amnesty for illegal aliens are for throwing these people out. Why isn’t the ACLU helping. How about LULAC? .why aren’t the proponents of the DREAM Act coming to their aid?

 

[CatholicGeek1]

Religious freedom does have rational limits. For instance someone who claims human sacrifice is an essential part of their religion still should not be permitted to do it.

But it seems to me this is not a case like that. Parents, not the state, are the primary educators of their children. Their rights as parents alone probably constitute a natural right to educate their children as they see fit, without government interference, even before you factor in their religious concerns. All this is assuming their “education” was not itself something abusive, like teaching the children to perform immoral acts or something like that.

I have a real problem with making homeschooling a right. Not because I do not think that parents have the right to educate their children, but because I believe from my experience that there are a lot of parents that are not qualified to do so.

I think that children should be educated in language, history, math, science, etc by people that are qualified to do so. If they are being taught things that are incorrect or that contradict their faith, the parents should work with the school system to come up with a solution. If that does not work, they should take seriously their role as the primary educators of their children and teach them what they do believe and why outside of school.

 

[CatholicGeek1]

There is a civil war in Kyrgyzstan and Dagestan??

The two are 1/2 ethnic Chechnyan, but neither was born, or lived in Chechnya. They were given Derivative Refugee or Asylum Status.

There was fighting that spilled over into those regions and a lot of people thought that it would spread.

That’s not really what is important though, my point was that the reasons for asylum being sought were different and I do not think that it should be a big part of this discussion.

 

[revert_jen]

The government’s main point appears to be that “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.”

Argh, argh, argh.

I left out the important end of the quote. It should have said, “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.”

I hope my post makes some semblance of sense now, because it didn’t before.

–Jen

 

[CatholicGeek1]

Argh, argh, argh.

I left out the important end of the quote. It should have said, “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.”

I hope my post makes some semblance of sense now, because it didn’t before.

–Jen

And I think that is the crux of the issue in this case. Asylum is supposed to be for people that are fleeing for their lives, or whose basic human rights have been violated, and that does not appear to be the case here.

 

[Joe_5859]

I have a real problem with making homeschooling a right. Not because I do not think that parents have the right to educate their children, but because I believe from my experience that there are a lot of parents that are not qualified to do so.

I think that children should be educated in language, history, math, science, etc by people that are qualified to do so. If they are being taught things that are incorrect or that contradict their faith, the parents should work with the school system to come up with a solution. If that does not work, they should take seriously their role as the primary educators of their children and teach them what they do believe and why outside of school.

I have a real problem with homeschooling not being considered a right.

Parents are the primary educators of their children. That is just the way it is. For the State to have the power to step in and educate my children the way they see fit? I have a big problem with that.

Yes, there are plenty that aren’t qualified to teach their children even the basics. But freedom allows for all sorts of things that might be less than desireable. The alternative, though, is far worse.

 

[Dave_Noonan]

I wonder if this family were illegal immigrants from some random country…would they be allowed to be here? Is it because they are Christians? (And btw, they are Evangelical, not Catholic christian).

Now they will probably lose custody of their children if they are forced to go back to Germany. Germany should just get rid of that nazi like law that ‘children can’t be home schooled’. :sad_yes:

The reason Germany maintains this law is out of fear of Nazi indoctrination.

 

[BroomWagon]

The reason Germany maintains this law is out of fear of Nazi indoctrination.

So if it is the EU, perhaps there is a more hospitable country if this is so.

 

[Aelred_Minor]

The reason Germany maintains this law is out of fear of Nazi indoctrination.

Germany maintains serious restrictions on free speech for the same reason, but I disagree with the mentality. Trying to prevent a remote and by now almost impossible form of future tyranny (a return of Nazis to power) with very real and current tyranny is not the right approach.