Global Courant
Uwe and Hannelore Romeike face a devastating situation when their family is deported after fifteen years of building a home for themselves in East Tennessee.
“They haven’t told us anything. We actually don’t know why (this is happening). We wonder because we can’t understand it,” Uwe Romeike told ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ on Sunday.
The Romeike family, originally from Germany, fled to the US after being fined for homeschooling their children in their mother country. Five years later, their asylum application was rejected, with authorities claiming they were not being prosecuted.
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The Romeike family was deported fifteen years ago after fleeing Germany to homeschool their children in the US (FOX & Friends Weekend/Screen Capture)
“The goal in Germany is an open, pluralistic society,” the Justice Ministry wrote in a legal letter at the time. “Teaching tolerance to children of all backgrounds helps develop the ability to communicate as a fully functioning citizen in Germany.”
However, their stay until now has been indefinite.
“(Homeschooling) is illegal (in Germany),” Hannelore Romeike explained. If they are returned, they will face the same persecution as before.
Initially, an immigration judge found the Romeike family’s asylum application appropriate.
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Attorney Kevin Boden said the family has lived legally in the U.S. for 15 years and would like to remain in their home in Tennessee. (Fox & Friends Weekend/Screen Capture)
“They found that the Romeike family had a well-founded fear of persecution based on their participation in a particular social category, namely homeschooling,” said Kevin Boden, an attorney representing the family.
“The Obama administration appealed that decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals. That appeals court agreed with them, as did the Sixth Circuit, and the Supreme Court denied it…. We believe this is in fact an asylum case. We believe they have a well-founded fear, as we have testified…
“I can tell you today that I have spoken to families today who are afraid in Germany and that the struggle there, the persecution there, is as real today as it was fifteen years ago,” Boden continued.
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The Romeike family can remain in the U.S. and has done so legally for the past 15 years, Boden said, adding that the Biden administration and federal agencies can make this possible.
“We’re asking them to do just that,” he said.
Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Pete Hegseth said FOX News reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for comment but did not hear back about the segment in time.
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Taylor Penley is an associate editor at Fox News.
