The Romeikes: DHS backs down

From HSLDA.org:

Romeike Family Can Stay in U.S.

The Department of Homeland Security verbally informed Home School Legal Defense Association that the Romeike family is being granted indefinite deferred action status. The Department told HSLDA that this meant the order of removal would not be acted on and that the Romeikes could stay.

HSLDA Chairman Michael Farris was thrilled.

“This is an incredible victory that I can only credit to Almighty God. I also want to thank those who spoke up on this issue—including that long ago White House petition. We believe that the public outcry made a huge impact. What an amazing turnaround—in just 24 hours,” he said.

And here’s what made the difference: publicity and public outcry regarding an event that DOJ and DHS thought and hoped would slip past everyone’s radar.  Alas, it did not.

But further:

Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued a denial of the Romeike family’s petition for certiorari, sparking an immediate and unprecedented reaction. Fox News told HSLDA that they recorded 1 million page views of the Romeikes’ story in 24 hours—an all-time high. Although many were not surprised by the Supreme Court’s decision, it seemed that this was the last hope for the family to avoid being sent back to Germany where they would undoubtedly be persecuted for homeschooling their children.

According to a Supervisor with DHS, the Romeike family has been granted “indefinite deferred status,” though no one seems to know precisely what that means.  Can and will their case be re-evaluated when the publicity dies down?  Is that what it means?

Today, a Supervisor with the Department of Homeland Security called a member of our legal team to inform us that the Romeike family has been granted “indefinite deferred status”. This means that the Romeikes can stay in the United States permanently (unless they are convicted of a crime, etc.)

One can only conclude that the federal DOJ went after this family for three reasons:

1. They are Christian;
2. They home school;
3. The are the New Minority

So either one of two things were to have occurred with regard to the Romeike family and our DOJ/DHS:

One: this was a purposeful denial of a mindset and thought process that DC, under Obama, cannot allow: Leftists cannot allow Home Schooling, they cannot allow Christians to assume superiority of/in any fashion, and they cannot support New Minorities.

Two: the DOJ/DHS wanted to ensure that the Romeikes were thrown back to Germany so that they would in fact be split asunder and have to conform to its mandatory public school regimes which would yield fines, custody and/or the physical loss of their children.

Either point is unacceptable.

Consider this one small win for the team.

BZ

 

An abortion from SCOTUS and the 6th Circuit CoA: the US will no longer embrace religious freedom

Romeike Family from GermanyFrom LegalInsurrection.com:

US Sup Ct refuses to hear Romeike homeschooling case  

by William A. Jacobson

Family faces deportation to Germany, where they risk fines, imprisonment and loss of children for homeschooling.

In an Orders list just released, the US Supreme Court has refused to grant certiorari to the petition filed by the Romeike family seeking asylum because of persecution of homeschoolers in Germany.

[BZ notes: see the US 6th Circuit Court ruling here, of Uwe Andreas Josef Romeike, et al, vs Eric Holder.]

The result is that the family faces deportation back to Germany, where they will risk fines, imprisonment, and loss of their children if they continue homeschooling.

Background on the case is set forth in these prior posts:

But here’s the unspoken part of the equation: the Romeike’s are Christian and religious, and they will be deported.

More on the case and the situation:

The Romeike’s have been here since 2008, seeking political asylum.  They fled, essentially, Deutsch persecution for daring to homeschool their children.  Because of their insistence upon homeschooling and their refusal to turn their children over to the government, they faced fines, custody and — literally — the loss of their children

From FoxNews.com:

They wanted to live in a country where they could raise their children in accordance with their Christian beliefs.

The Romeikes were initially given asylum, but the Obama administration objected – claiming that German laws that outlaw homeschooling do not constitute persecution.

Really?  Imagine that.

On Monday, the Supreme Court declined to hear the Romeike’s appeal – paving the way for the Christian family of eight to be deported.

Had the family stayed in Germany, where homeschooling is illegal, they would have faced the prospect of losing their children. Like the Pilgrims, they fled their homeland yearning for a place where they could be free.

Perhaps it’s time for this:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

And those who seek freedom from an establishment of a religion in their own country, are they now persona non gratis?  When we have, literally, millions of persons who do not respect our fundamental border rights in the slightest?

The US will let Yemenis and Syrians into the country who default the United States by stealing SSI and Social Security benefits for themselves and for the dead and for children who are no longer in the nation, but the US won’t allow a mere eight more people into the country who seek actual and true religious freedom.  Is it because the Romeike family is Caucasoid?  Is it because they procreate and have a large family?  Is it because they are religious?  What is it?

Is this what we’ve become?  The complete antithesis of our founding?

BZ