Help the Romeikes—in Two Easy Steps!

Protect homeschool freedom and ask the Obama administration to grant asylum to the Romeikes >>

Dear Leaders,

We have a major case going that involves the Romeike family, a homeschool family who had to flee Germany to avoid large fines, probably the loss of their children, and even jail time. They came to the U.S. and asked for asylum. Although they won at the trial level, the United States government wasn’t happy with that decision and appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals and won.

We have appealed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, and oral arguments will be held in about a month. Mike Farris will argue on behalf of the family.

You may be asking, other than our concern for our brothers and sisters who are denied the freedom to homeschool in other parts of the world, could this case impact homeschooling in my state?

Mike Smith is HSLDA’s president.

Very good question! The answer is that it shouldn’t, but because Eric Holder, the Attorney General, has argued that homeschooling is not a fundamental right, it could.

If the Sixth Circuit agrees with the government, this could be a major blow to U.S. homeschooling freedom.

At least 34 state legislatures have recognized the right to homeschool via legislation and several of these states have provided unparalleled freedom. The legislatures did this because they assumed parents had a fundamental right—the highest level of rights we recognize in law—to homeschool.

Our opponents are waiting in the wings to go back into these legislatures and pass new laws to require minimum teacher qualifications, curriculum content control, and extensive government oversight of homeschooling. A federal court ruling that fails to recognize parents have a fundamental right to choose homeschooling would open the door for them to start that process.

So, I’m asking you do two things:

1. Sign the White House petition* on behalf of the Romeike family, and then, (People outside the USA can also sign this petition)

2. Ask your members and constituents to sign the petition as well, and to pray for the case and the family. Feel free to either forward my email or use the press release and/or news article for background. Graphics and photos of the family are available in the Media section of our Romeike page.

By petitioning through whitehouse.gov, it is our hope that President Obama will recognize the unpopularity of the Attorney General’s position and grant asylum to the family. White House petitions that receive over 100,000 signatures within 30 days are guaranteed a response by the administration (other petition sites have no such guarantee). Anyone 13 years or older with an email address can sign the petition.

This is a precedent-setting case that could impact future homeschool liberties in the United States and around the world. Please act now.

Thank you for your help for this family. If you have any questions or comments, please get back to me.

Sincerely,

Mike Smith
President

* P.S. The White House petition requires only your first and last names and an email address (does not need to be your primary email account). The zip field is optional. And remember, anyone in your family, 13 years or older, who has an email account can sign the petition.

We should never let fear of the government stop us from standing up for what is right.