By Allan Wall
04/08/2014
There’s been a dramatic turnaround for the Romeike family, the German homeschoolers the Obama/Holder Administration was fighting to deport. The Supreme Court refused to hear their case on March 3. So it looked like the end. But the very next day, the Department of Homeland Security granted the family “indefinite deferred-action status.”
Why did the Obama Regime, after going out of its way to deport the Romeikes, suddenly let them stay? And what are the ramifications?
It may have been due to public outrage. Critics of the Romeikes’ treatment embarrassingly contrasted it with the millions of illegal aliens being coddled by the Administration.
In fact, Obama may see this decision as facilitating his drive for illegal alien Amnesty. He employed a unilateral Administrative Amnesty for the Romeikes — just as he has done for many illegal aliens.
Tellingly, even Michael Farris, founder and chairman of the Home School Legal Defense Association [HSLDA], the group that defended the Romeikes, doubts it was a great victory for homeschooling. In fact, he sees it as containing the seeds for a future move against American homeschoolers. He writes:
Other than the Romeike family themselves, no one could have been more thrilled than me with the sudden reversal from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) which allowed them to remain in the United States…[But] this administrative victory needs to be understood for what it is. It is a victory for the Romeike family alone. No other German homeschooling family can benefit from the administrative grace that was shown in this one instance.
Farris’ concern:
If our government contends that Germany did not violate the principles of religious freedom when it banned homeschooling in order to gain philosophical control over children, then it implies that it would not violate religious freedom or parental rights if the United States decided to ban homeschooling for the same purpose. After all, we would simply be promoting tolerance and pluralism. That is the subtle but dangerous message buried in the Romeike decision.
[Dangerous Policy Lurks Behind Romeike Triumph [by Michael Farris, HSLDA, March 11, 2014]
I strongly support homeschooling. But, just a few decades ago, American officials had about the same attitude toward homeschoolers as German officials do today. The HSLDA, to its great credit, did much to improve the legal standing of American homeschoolers.
What really bothered Americans about the Romeike case: the fact that the Obama Administration was going after a family of white homeschoolers, who had already been granted asylum, while simultaneously working to Amnesty millions of illegal aliens.
Personally, I support a shutdown of illegal and legal immigration. I don’t think we need immigrants. I don’t believe we are obligated to take in everybody in the world who has a problem in his home country.
But if, for some reason, we have to take in a million immigrants annually, why not take more white immigrants — from Europe, and other Anglosphere countries? They assimilate better and have lower welfare rates.
The Obama Administration’s position was clearly hypocritical — or worse.
The Dallas Morning News’ Ralph de la Cruz turned the hypocrisy argument around. He argues that the Romeikes were treated better than Mexican illegal aliens:
The extraordinary reason they are being allowed to stay in the United States? Uwe and Hannelore Romeike want to home school their seven children, and German law requires all children to attend school. They racked up $9,000 in fines in Germany and faced the possible loss of custody of their children. So they came to the U.S. without papers and settled in Tennessee.
Curious flip-flop by immigration authorities in home-school case, March 11, 2014
Notice how de la Cruz says the Romeike family “came to the U.S. without papers” to associate them with illegal alien border-jumpers. In fact, the Romeikes came to the U.S. on a tourist visa and later applied for asylum. That’s entirely legitimate: according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website,
To obtain asylum through the affirmative asylum process you must be physically present in the United States. You may apply for asylum status regardless of how you arrived in the United States or your current immigration status.
Nevertheless, de la Cruz continues
After fighting deportation through the legal process, and losing, the DHS — the same folks who had been fighting to have them deported — suddenly changed its mind and decided to let them stay.
Considering the department has not been shy about deporting about two million people during President Barack Obama’s presidency — most from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador — you have to wonder whether country of origin, ethnicity or religion (the Romeikes are devoutly Christian) came into play.
Bunk. The real question: why was the Obama/Holder regime going out of its way to deport one German family while simultaneously refusing to deport, and attempting to Amnesty, many more millions of illegal aliens?
As for “deporting about two million people,” the Obama Administration’s high deportation rates are bogus. Actual deportation rates of those in the interior of the U.S. are lower than 1%.
De la Cruz goes on:
Certainly, single-issue advocacy did. The Home School Legal Defense Association sponsored their case, which, considering it went all the way to the Supreme Court, cost appreciably more than $9,000.
“It would have cost them a fortune,” said prominent Austin immigration lawyer Dan Kowalski.
So, if home schooling is reason enough to let someone without papers stay in the United States indefinitely, why couldn’t others use a similar persecution defense in dealing with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (the agency under DHS that handles immigration)?
“It could come back to haunt them,” Kowalski said of the action. “And not just in cases where you’re talking about home schooling, but for any humanitarian reason.”
After all, If not having the right to home school is reason enough for DHS to grant deferred action status — which, although it can be retracted, generally allows folks to stay here if they don’t commit a criminal act and stay in contact with DHS — wouldn’t something like beheadings of the local population by drug cartels, also qualify?
De la Cruz wraps it up with this comment:
So a word to the wise illegal immigrant: forget the coyotes. Focus on finding a deep-pocketed, single-issue supporter.
Don’t the illegal aliens already have plenty of supporters?
If Ralph de la Cruz is really bothered by this case, I have a solution to propose:
Since one German family got deferred status and is not being deported, find one family each from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, and Colombia. Those six families can stay. All the rest must be deported.
Fair?
Under present circumstances, I don’t see what Ralph de la Cruz has to worry about. The Obama Regime continues unilaterally to expand its Administrative Amnesty, with little opposition from Congress.
Also, the DHS has approved waivers for illegal aliens with criminal records as long as they are considered “petty offenses”, crimes committed by “youthful offenders” and not involving “moral turpitude” (as defined by DHS). [DHS giving illegal immigrant ‘petty’ criminals second chance in waiver application process, By Caroline May, Daily Caller, March 24, 2014] As Federale has reported, it now includes former deportees and terrorist supporters.
So there you go, Ralph de la Cruz! The Romeike case was a tiny exception in the great scheme of things — not a sign that U.S. immigration policy is going to favor Europeans over Latin Americans.
But if the American people wake up and compel their government to enforce immigration law — now, that’s what the Treason Lobby has to worry about!
American citizen Allan Wall moved back to the U.S.A. in 2008after many years residing in Mexico. Allan’s wife is Mexican, and their two sons are bilingual. In 2005, Allan served a tour of duty in Iraq with the Texas Army National Guard. His VDARE.COM articles are archived here; his Mexidata.info articles are archived here; his News With Views columns are archived here; and his website is here.
This is a content archive of VDARE.com, which Letitia James forced off of the Internet using lawfare.