USA Grants German Christians Political Asylum for Homeschooling

After $10,000 in fines for homeschooling their three oldest children and having the crying children escorted by police back to public school, an Evangelical Christian family in Germany decided to seek asylum in the U.S.

Uwe Romeike removed his children from German public schools in 2006. He said his oldest child had a health textbook that used slang terms to describe sexual relations — including the German equivalent of the "F-word." Other schoolbooks taught disrespect of authority figures and had images and tales about the occult. He felt he needed his children homeschooled to uphold the family's values and spiritual beliefs. Romeike, his wife Hannelore, and their five children moved from Germany to Morristown, Tennessee in 2008 after losing their case to homeschool in 2007 before a German district judge. Higher courts refused to even look at the case, and in November 2007 the highest appellate court ruled children could be removed from their parent's care for not attending public schools. On Jan. 26, 2010 the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) helped the Romeikes become the first people granted asylum in the U.S. because they were persecuted for homeschooling.

The ruling is tricky politically for Washington and its allies in Europe, where several countries - including Spain and the Netherlands - allow homeschooling only under exceptional circumstances, such as when a child is extremely ill. That helps explain why in late February, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement formally appealed the Romeike ruling, which was issued by an immigration judge in Memphis, Tenn. His unprecedented decision has raised concerns that the already heavily backlogged immigration courts will be flooded with asylum petitions from homeschoolers in countries typically regarded as having nonrepressive governments.

David Piver, an immigration attorney, said, "It's very unusual for people from Western countries to be granted asylum in the U.S." He predicted the U.S. government would appeal the decision "so as not to offend a close ally." He also went on to say the Memphis judge was right to grant the Romeikes asylum, since the law covers social groups with "a well-founded fear of persecution" in their native country. Lutz Gorgens, German consul general for the Southeast U.S., defends Germany's requirements for public education. "For reasons deeply rooted in history and our belief that only schools properly can ensure the desired level of excellent education, we (Germany) go a little bit beyond that path which other countries have chosen," he said.