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100,000 Americans To Obama: Homeschooling A Right
Petition on behalf of threatened family reaches threshold for response
WND
WASHINGTON – The Home School Legal Defense Association today reached a milestone victory in its efforts to assist a persecuted German homeschooling family who soon could be forced back to Germany by the Obama administration.
An online petition launched by HSLDA on the White House website asking the administration to grant permanent legal status to the Romeike family surpassed the needed 100,000 signatures.
That’s the threshold at which the Obama administration is supposed to provide a response on the question raised.
On April 23, HSLDA Founder Michael Farris will represent Uwe and Hannelore Romeike in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in an attempt to stop their deportation by the Obama administration.
The embattled Romeike family fled Germany in 2008 after the couple was ordered to turn over custody of their four children to the state because their homeschooling practices failed to meet the government’s demand for “integration.”
The Romeike’s ordeal didn’t end there. They were hit with thousands of dollars in fines, a potential lien on their home and possible jail time for homeschooling their children. They were originally granted asylum in 2010 by an immigration judge in the United Statse, but the Department of Justice appealed their asylum case saying the homeschoolers in Germany do not classify as a persecuted group, despite their ordeal.
The petition, which demands permanent legal status for the family members, quickly collected 25,000 then 75,000 and finally surpassed 100,000 signatures from Americans concerned about the precedent that this case could set.
“When the United States government says that homeschooling is a mutable choice, it is saying that a government can legitimately coerce you to change this choice,” Farris said. “In other words, you have no protected right to choose what type of education your children will receive.”
Reposted with permission.
