Posted on 05/29/2013 1:59:24 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
A letter signed by 27 members of Congress asks Attorney General Eric Holder to grant asylum to the Romeikes, a German family that fled to the United States after their government threatened to take their kids away from them because they homeschooled.
"A decision to deny the Romeikes the opportunity to educate their children freely is a decision to abandon our commitment to freedom," the letter argues. "Doing so would put America alongside those countries that believe children belong to the community or state."
The Romeikes recently lost a case in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in which they were seeking asylum. The court found that the Romeikes should not be granted asylum because homeschoolers do not fit the definition of a particular social group subjected to persecution. The Romeikes could simply send their children to public schools to avoid punishment from the German government, the court reasoned.
The letter, on the other hand, argues that homeschoolers are a particular social group: "Although parents can change their minds about homeschooling, no parent in a free nation should be forced by the state to make that decision."
The Romeikes are represented by the Home School Legal Defense Association, which has said it will appeal the court's decision.
"It's refreshing to see that there are members of Congress who are willing to put their support behind this family during this trying time," said Michael Farris, chairman of HSLDA. "The Romeikes are doing the exact same thing the Pilgrims did hundreds of years ago, and they need to see there are still people in our government who care for this essential American ideal."
The signers of the letter are: Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Steve Daines (R-MT), Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), Tim Huelskamp (R-KS), Bill Huizenga (R-MI), Randy Hultgren (R-IL), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA), Mark Meadows (R-NC), Luke Messer (R-IN), Jeff Miller (R-FL), Alan Nunnelee (R-MS), Stevan Pearce (R-NM), Joe Pitts (R-PA), Mike Pompeo (R-KS), Bill Posey (R-FL), Phil Roe (R-TN), Todd Rokita (R-IN), Steve Scalise (R-LA), Steve Southerland (R-FL), Chris Stewart (R-UT), Steve Stockman (R-TX), Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.), Lee Terry (R-NE), Jackie Walorski (R-IN), and Daniel Webster (R-FL).
I know about Germany, I have relatives there.
You still have not answered my question: do you endorse prison and the government abduction of children for failure to comply with the state’s mandate on education?
If you home-schooled your kids in Germany in a lousy way, and they could not get real employment because the whole apprentice program has to function in one-single fashion...then the state gets stuck with losers. Trust me...there’s probably half-a-million losers already on public welfare in Germany, and based on the tax, and social care system....you have to support the losers.
So yeah....if you can’t depend on all parents to do the right tutoring or instruction...best to funnel the kids through the system that delivers. Because otherwise, you just add another layer of losers onto the employed folks to support.
I’d support that as well- you’d get the folks who would want to be in the US and not the folks coming here for the benefits.
As for this family - she’s got a kid on the way so it’s just a matter of running out the clock. She looks what, 4 months along?
5 months and she’ll be allowed to stay in America. I’m sure her lawyer is simply trying to run out the clock on her appeals.
You mean the public education system? I wouldn’t go quite that far.
Some people actually end up ok.
Ok, now that you admit that you are a statist who endorses imprisoning dissident parents and taking their children away from them, what are you doing here on FR? You should be with the Dems, excusing and justifying the behavior of Stalin, who did exactly the same thing that you endorse.
From what I’m seeing they’ve appealed to the Sixth Circuit, but this case is probably destined for the Supremes at some point.
“According to Chief Justice John Roberts, speaking to a reporter with Daily Business Review in November 2006, it generally takes six months to dispose of a petition from the time it is filed. Roberts may have been including all the administrative processes involved before a case granted certiorari can be scheduled for argument, though, rather than the time interval between filing the petition and having certiorari granted or denied.”
So they should be fine so long as their lawyer dots his is and crosses his ts.
I suggest the Roberts be confronted with his adoption and gay summer trip actions.
Grok that.
Sounds good to me! (although I still wouldn’t want to open our borders to everyone.)
“27 Congresspersons Ask AG Holder to Stop Deportation of German Homeschoolers”
Are you kidding me? That’s like asking Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, to stop sending Jewish people to the ovens and killing fields.
Holder is a racist, honkey-hatting, mass-murdering baby killer.
As the great Milton Friedman said (paraphrased), you can have open borders or a welfare state, but not both.
One asylum seeking Muslim family who lied about persecution immediately got: housing, welfare, food stamps, and scholarships. Then they would become shop lifters and drug dealers and build bombs to kill Americans.
Thank you for your information. Families shouldn’t have to flee their homeland. I I don’t know what that statist is doing here at FR.
Well, the government schools are so good in Germany! Nobody could possibly have a reasonable objection to their children’s attending, and alternatives unjustly deprive the children of the benefits of participating in the system. Of course irrational parents must be forced to make the right decisions. /s
Let’s offer to trade Germany a few unemployed Poles, an extended family of Chechens, and a gross of Somalis for a dozen Evangelical homeschooling German families.
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