{"id":19061,"date":"2023-10-05T09:40:29","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T13:40:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=19061"},"modified":"2023-10-11T09:12:07","modified_gmt":"2023-10-11T13:12:07","slug":"tennessee-family-faces-deportation-15-years-after-leaving-germany-to-homeschool-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2023\/10\/tennessee-family-faces-deportation-15-years-after-leaving-germany-to-homeschool-children","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee Family Faces Deportation 15 Years After Leaving Germany to Homeschool Children"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_19067\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19067\" style=\"width: 746px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2023\/10\/romeike-family-credit-lydia-romeike-bates-facebook.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19067\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2023\/10\/romeike-family-credit-lydia-romeike-bates-facebook.png\" alt=\"romeike family\" width=\"746\" height=\"598\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-19067\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lydia Romeike Bates\/Facebook<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Hannelore and Uwe Romeike face a tragic predicament as their family faces deportation after 15 years of making a home for themselves in East Tennessee. Uwe Romeike told \u2018Fox &amp; Friends Weekend,\u2019 \u201cThey did not tell us anything. We don\u2019t really know why this is happening. We wonder ourselves because we can\u2019t understand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Originally from Germany, the Romeike family fled to the U.S. after being fined for homeschooling their children in their home country. Their asylum claim was denied five years later, with authorities claiming they weren\u2019t prosecuted. The Justice Department wrote in a legal brief at the time, \u201cThe goal in Germany is for an open, pluralistic society. Teaching tolerance to children of all backgrounds helps to develop the ability to interact as a fully functioning citizen in Germany.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Their stay was indefinite, however, until now. Hannelore Romeike explained, \u201cHomeschooling is illegal in Germany.\u201d If the family is sent back, they\u2019ll face the same persecution as before. Initially, an immigration judge found the Romeike family\u2019s asylum claim appropriate. Kevin Boden, an attorney representing the family, said, \u201cThey found that the Romeike family did have a well-founded fear of persecution based on their participation in a particular social category, that being homeschoolers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PLsySvb6JBE?si=GI0s-P4VidakLHl0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Boden continued, \u201cThe Obama administration appealed that to the Board of Immigration Appeals. That appeal court agreed with them, as did the Sixth Circuit, and the Supreme Court denied it. We think this is, in fact, an asylum case. We do think they have a well-founded fear, as we testified. I can tell you today, I talked to families today that have fear in Germany, and the fight there, the persecution there, is very real today as it was 15 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Boden added that the Romeike family can stay in the U.S. and have done so for the past 15 years legally, noting that the Biden administration and federal agencies can make it happen. He said, \u201cWe\u2019re asking them to simply do just that.\u201d \u201cFox &amp; Friends Weekend\u201d co-host Pete Hegseth\u00a0said FOX News reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for comment but did not hear back in time for the segment.<\/p>\n<p>The couple, who are evangelical Christians, decided to educate their kids independently after witnessing how their children\u2019s \u201cwhole personalities changed\u201d and suffered health issues while attending public school, Uwe Romeike said. The contents of their children\u2019s textbooks, which included concepts against their religion, such as endorsing abortion and homosexuality and insulting \u201cfamily values,\u201d further soured the parent\u2019s faith in the public schools, according to court documents.<\/p>\n<p>Uwe Romeike said, \u201cThe content we found in there is diametrically against what we believe. Why would you teach a child to be disrespectful to parents? Why would you trust the Devil over God?\u201d After being slapped with over $7,000 in fines for yanking their kids from the public school system\u00a0and having the police show up at their door to escort their children to public school, the Romeikes relocated to Morristown, Tenn., where they filed for asylum, according to court documents.<\/p>\n<p>Republican U.S. Rep. Diana Harshbarger, whose district covers Morristown,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/118th-congress\/house-bill\/5423\/text\">introduced legislation<\/a>\u00a0that would grant the family permanent residency status. A petition\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/go.hslda.org\/HelptheRomeikes2023\">started<\/a> by the Home School Legal Defense Association urging the Biden administration to reinstate their deferred status has received over 70,000 signatures so far.<\/p>\n<p>In a positive update, a source familiar with the situation told Fox News Digital that the family has been granted a one-year stay of removal. The development comes after lawmakers intervened on the Romeike family&#8217;s behalf, asking U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to reconsider the move. A number of Tennessee lawmakers pled in a letter to ICE Deputy Director Patrick J. Lechleitner, &#8220;We are asking you and your office to give this family a chance to continue building their lives in Tennessee. It is our understanding a court has ruled they are allowed to stay indefinitely, as long as they fulfill their obligation of checking in as ordered by ICE. To our knowledge they have been faithful in doing so.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hannelore and Uwe Romeike face a tragic predicament as their family faces deportation after 15 years of making a home for themselves in East Tennessee. Uwe Romeike told \u2018Fox &amp; Friends Weekend,\u2019 \u201cThey did not tell us anything. We don\u2019t really know why this is happening. We wonder ourselves because we can\u2019t understand.\u201d Originally from&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":19067,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2444,32,119],"tags":[3677,3683,3680],"class_list":["post-19061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-america","category-christian","category-education","tag-deportation","tag-homeschooling","tag-romeike-family"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Tennessee Family Faces Deportation 15 Years After Leaving Germany to Homeschool Children<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fifteeen years ago, the Romeike family fled Germany to homeschool their children. Now, they may be deported back and face persecution.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2023\/10\/tennessee-family-faces-deportation-15-years-after-leaving-germany-to-homeschool-children\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tennessee Family Faces Deportation 15 Years After Leaving Germany to Homeschool Children\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fifteeen years ago, the Romeike family fled Germany to homeschool their children. Now, they may be deported back and face persecution.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2023\/10\/tennessee-family-faces-deportation-15-years-after-leaving-germany-to-homeschool-children\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beliefnet News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-05T13:40:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-11T13:12:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2023\/10\/romeike-family-credit-lydia-romeike-bates-facebook.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"746\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"598\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lauren McKeithen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tennessee Family Faces Deportation 15 Years After Leaving Germany to Homeschool Children","description":"Fifteeen years ago, the Romeike family fled Germany to homeschool their children. Now, they may be deported back and face persecution.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2023\/10\/tennessee-family-faces-deportation-15-years-after-leaving-germany-to-homeschool-children","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tennessee Family Faces Deportation 15 Years After Leaving Germany to Homeschool Children","og_description":"Fifteeen years ago, the Romeike family fled Germany to homeschool their children. Now, they may be deported back and face persecution.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2023\/10\/tennessee-family-faces-deportation-15-years-after-leaving-germany-to-homeschool-children","og_site_name":"Beliefnet News","article_published_time":"2023-10-05T13:40:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-10-11T13:12:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":746,"height":598,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2023\/10\/romeike-family-credit-lydia-romeike-bates-facebook.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Lauren McKeithen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2023\/10\/tennessee-family-faces-deportation-15-years-after-leaving-germany-to-homeschool-children","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2023\/10\/tennessee-family-faces-deportation-15-years-after-leaving-germany-to-homeschool-children","name":"Tennessee Family Faces Deportation 15 Years After Leaving Germany to Homeschool Children","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2023\/10\/tennessee-family-faces-deportation-15-years-after-leaving-germany-to-homeschool-children#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2023\/10\/tennessee-family-faces-deportation-15-years-after-leaving-germany-to-homeschool-children#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2023\/10\/romeike-family-credit-lydia-romeike-bates-facebook.png","datePublished":"2023-10-05T13:40:29+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-11T13:12:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/67183b7ec4ffc995620174c78f9cc68a"},"description":"Fifteeen years ago, the Romeike family fled Germany to homeschool their children. 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