German Family Seeks Asylum
April 20, 2013
Hannalore Romeike with one of her children
DON VINCENZO writes:
Unnoticed by the mainstream media, perhaps intentionally, was the decision by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice to deny an application for political asylum to a German Evangelical family on the basis of their being subject to prosecution for their religious beliefs. Even for an administration that sees Christians and its followers as potential enemies, while trumpeting its “outreach” to Muslims, the case of Uwe and Hannalore Romeike should disturb those who believe that the United States is the “last great hope for mankind.”
In 2006, the Romeike parents, both music teachers, removed their children from their local German school in southwestern Germany in large part because the schools “taught disrespect for authority.” It was their contention that it was the duty of parents to decide what children should learn, but in so doing the Romeikes ran directly into the maw of socialist government, which will not allow such autonomy in education. The Romeikes were threatened with heavy fines, confiscation of their home, and, most significantly, the removal of their five children from their care and supervision. Homeschooling families in Sweden have faced similar persecution. The Romeike family fled Germany to Tennessee in 2008, and applied for political asylum in 2010. Recently, a lower court federal judge turned down their asylum petition.
On April 23, the the Federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear the Romeike case, and many observers believe that they have an uphill battle. Last year, New Zealand’s government denied a similar request, and one is pending in Canada. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has been quoted as saying that the Romeike denial of asylum does not “violate their fundamental liberty.” Amongst homeschooled families in the U.S., the case has become a cause celebre, with more than 120,000 signatures to a petition to the White House urging the granting of asylum.
Whether the Romeikes win or lose is just one aspect of the unfolding immigration drama that our country faces, with tens of millions of illegal aliens here without the legal right to be here. Unlike the illegals from south of our border who return days after being expelled, Herr Romeike has said that if his legal case is unsuccessful, he will leave the U.S. and seek refuge somewhere else. No immigration system can be perfect, but as events in Watertown, Massachusetts have shown, a more diligent approach to who enters this country should replace the current system where Third World applicants are most often granted the asylum they seek. The tragic part of his scenario is that the administration is now considering the deportation of a family whose presence can add to our societal strength and the principles of our Founding. Somehow, that doesn’t seem to mean much to them.
— Comments —
Terry Morris writes:
The Sate of Tennessee has every right, under the Constitution, to grant asylum to this family. Screw the federal courts! The power to establish “an uniform rule of naturalization” is not the same thing as allowing, or disallowing, immigration from Germany (or any other country, for that matter) to Tennessee, or any other State. We can continue to allow the feds to control immigration at our own peril, OR, we can hold them to their constitutional obligations. The choice is ours, not theirs.
Don Vincenzo writes:
