Dear Friends,
Last
month, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals – at the U.S. government’s
urging – decided that a family in Tennessee would have to return to
Germany where they will face crushing six-figure fines and possibly
imprisonment for breaking a Nazi-era law. The parents could even lose
custody of their six children.
Their crime?
Homeschooling their children.
The
Romeike Family fled their home of Germany in 2008 because the law there
requires that all parents send their children to state-sponsored
schools. This Christian family, members of an Evangelical Free church
in Germany, chose to homeschool their children instead in order to raise
them with their religious values.
You
see, as the German Constitutional Court has explained, the purpose of
the anti-homeschooling law is to counteract “the development of
religious or philosophically motivated ‘parallel societies’ and
[integrate] minorities in this area.”
This isn’t about educating children. It’s about indoctrinating them … even against their parents’ religious beliefs.
The law is being used to keep people like the Romeikes from bringing their children up in their faith.
Yet,
despite how clearly this law is targeting religious minorities like the
Romeikes and how clearly this family will be persecuted if deported,
the U.S. government fought their petition for asylum.
In
fact, a U.S. Immigration Judge initially approved the Romeikes’ request
to stay in the United States so they could exercise their religious
freedom and bring their children up in accordance with their religious
beliefs. But the federal government appealed and on May 14th the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with their view that this doesn’t constitute persecution under our asylum laws.
The Romeikes face fines in excess of $150,000.
The parents could be imprisoned.
The
children were already forcibly removed from their home and taken to the
public schools by the police before they fled Germany five years ago.
They face losing custody of their children when they return if they
continue to defy this Nazi-era law.
The
Becket Fund filed an amicus brief when the case was before the Board of
Immigration Appeals and we detailed how the law is about the
indoctrination of German youth and the suppression of religious minority
beliefs. As we documented, the law will allow for homeschooling for
certain secular reasons, such as where a child is not mentally prepared
for school or a parent’s occupation requires it. But there is
absolutely no leeway for religious homeschoolers.
We
also pointed out how several international declarations declare
unabashedly that parents have the right to “organize the life within the
family in accordance with their religion or belief and bearing in mind
the moral education in which they believe the child should be brought
up.” The German government might want to read up on these!
The
Romeikes are represented by the Home School Legal Defense Association,
which has indicated an intent to appeal the case. They have organized a
petition to President Obama to reverse the course his Administration
has chosen and let the Romeikes stay in the U.S. to exercise true
religious liberty. It currently has almost 125,000 signatures. You can add your name by clicking here.
Thanks
to your generous support the Becket Fund is often able to assist in
cases like these even when we have a full legal plate of our own. We
will continue to monitor this case and lend a hand when we can as we
pursue our strategy for defending religious liberty in the most targeted
way possible. Thank you for making that possible.
Sincerely,
Kristina Arriaga
Executive Director
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