Publisher’s Point: Rejoicing With The Romeikes

In May of 2013 Athens Now published a piece entitled Why We Need To Fight For The Romeike Family. It was about the plight of a German family who had sought and received asylum in the United States because they wanted to homeschool their family. The German government was going to take their children away from them, and in the truest fulfillment of Lady Liberty’s invitation to those who are “yearning to breathe free,” our country granted them legal shelter. There would be no need for anyone to raise an issue regarding them becoming dependent on public assistance, as they are concert musicians who are fully able to support themselves. There would be no need to raise an issue over anything, for that matter. Then the Obama administration stepped in and essentially said that no parent or guardian has a fundamental right to be the one that determines the education of their own children, and tried to deport them. I don’t know what this administration does with the homeschool laws that are legal in all 50 states, but I digress.

There was a veritable hue and cry that came forth from Americans of all quarters, and a petition was circulated that that was signed by tens of thousands. Federal legislators got involved, some of whom homeschool their own children. The Homeschool Legal Defense Fund represented their case. Residents of Eastern Tennessee were on the verge of civil disobedience. All the while, Attorney General Eric Holder was saying that homeschooling was a “mutable choice;” that is, one that could be nullified by the U.S. government on a capricious whim.

It seemed way past strange that the administration would grant, and then retract asylum. What was even more curious was how hostile the Germans were toward this family, until an old law put on the books in 1937 by Adolph himself was uncovered. In part it said, “For this reason we have set before ourselves the task of inoculating our youth with the spirit of this community of the people at a very early age, at an age when human beings are still unperverted and therefore unspoiled,” the dictator said. “This Reich stands, and it is building itself up for the future, upon its youth. And this new Reich will give its youth to no one, but will itself take youth and give to youth its own education and its own upbringing.” Yikes!

The plot, as they say, thickened to the point of complete coagulation. The case went to the Supreme Court, and they were denied. It looked like there was no hope, and the Romeikes, who had won the hearts of their neighbors, were going to be deported to face a law that had been crafted by an evil tyrant decades ago.

But remember this: God says He can save by many or by few, and sometimes help comes from the most bizarre and unlikely sources. In this case it was, as unbelievable as it sounds, from the Department of Homeland Security! That’s right, the very people whose department thinks it’s appropriate to look at your digitized naked body before you get on an airplane decided to grant the Romeikes the right to stay here permanently as long as they don’t commit a crime! Officially, they have been granted “indefinite deferred status.” The turnaround stunned everyone, and is understandably being called “a miracle.”
This sounds a bit like a modern day version of the Philistines turning on each other, and all of us have cause to give thanks. Prayer was answered, and justice prevailed. With so much bad news these days, here’s some good stuff to which you can cling, and about which you can rejoice.
By: Ali Elizabeth Turner