Update (May 14): Baptist Press (BP) reports that the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has denied Uwe and Hannelore Romeike’s case for asylum, upholding a Board of Immigration Appeals ruling.
Judges ruled that the Romeikes, who left Germany in order to homeschool their children, “did not make a sufficient case” for their fear of persecution, according to BP.
RNS offers more details.
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Update (April 23): As lawyers for Uwe and Hannelore Romeike prepare to argue their case in court today, Religion News Service reports that the unusual deportation case of the German asylum-seekers will focus “on a parent’s right to teach their children at home, which isn’t allowed in the Romeikes’ native Germany.”
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In 2010, a Tennessee judge granted asylum to a German family who feared persecution from their government for their decision to homeschool their children.The unusual decision pushed persecution boundaries–while the German government was not motivated by religion to persecute Uwe and Hannelore Romeike, it was frustrating the family’s faith, said judge Lawrence Burman.
Now, three years later, the Romeikes are still in the middle of a deportation battle.
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear the Romeikes’s appeal of a May 2012 ruling by the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), which ruled that Germany’s ban on home education is not a human rights violation–and that the Romeikes must return to Germany as a result.
The Romeikes, who are represented by the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), say they have faced persecution in Germany for their decision to homeschool their children.
The Sixth Circuit is scheduled to hear oral arguments for the case in April.
CT has previously reported on the topic of homeschooling, including the surprising asylum granted to the Romeikes and how it pushed persecution boundaries.
