The Romeike family was forced to flee Germany in 2008, because they chose to homeschool. Germany does not recognize the fundamental right of parents to homeschool their children, and only permits the practice in very narrow circumstances.
A Story of Hope
When Uwe and Hannelore Romeike decided in 2006 that God was calling them to homeschool their five children, Germany responded swiftly by leveling fines that exceeded the family’s income, forcibly removing the children from the home to take them to school, and threatening to remove the children from the home permanently.
So the Romeikes fled to America, where we helped them apply for asylum. In 2014, after five years of legal battles and a growing public outcry, the United States government granted the Romeikes “indefinite deferred action status,” which allowed them to live, work, and remain safely in the United States without fear of deportation.
Then It All Changed
Then, in September 2023, the Romeikes were told during a routine check-in that their deferred status had been revoked. The family was given four weeks to apply for German passports, so they could be deported to Germany. The family had no prior warning, and was offered no explanation, other than that there had been a “change of orders.”
In the 10 years that the Romeikes have lived peacefully in the United States, they’ve built a second life: they have two children who are American citizens, and two other children who married American citizens (one of these couples recently welcomed their first child).
Deportation to Germany will fracture these families, while exposing the Romeikes to renewed persecution in Germany, where homeschooling is still illegal in almost every case.
But there is still hope.
The United States executive branch intervened once before to grant the Romeikes a respite, and it has the power to do it again.
What You Can Do
Join us in asking the Biden administration to set this right.
* * *