Trace Bates 3

[llucie]

1 hour ago, CarrotCake said:

It says that they will be charged upon return but if the children are all 18+, why would they?

I am not that familiar with these kind of laws, especially in Germany but it does not make sense to be charged for homeschooling if there are no minors in the family.

They have 2 minor girls who were both born in the US. I dont think the homeschool laws in Germany make exceptions for foreigners but i highly doubt they will be charged upon returning. Since those kids were never registered in germany at all i doubt authorities will even notice if they are being homeschooled or not.

I do wonder though if they have a pending case from when they left the country the first time. If they had fines back them they have probably adquired a lot of interest.

[Nothing if not critical]

51 minutes ago, llucie said:

Since those kids were never registered in germany at all i doubt authorities will even notice if they are being homeschooled or not.

Oh, the German authorities will absolutely notice. As soon as the Romeikes move back, those kids will be registered wherever they live and expected to go to school. Afaik, the law applies to kids living in Germany, irrespective of their nationality. They might be able to send them to an American expat school that teaches a US curriculum, or to a private school, but they still won't be allowed to homeschool.

[LillyP]

I actually think there is a high probability this won't get sorted out and they'll all be headed to Germany...Trace included. If that happens I could 100% see their church footing the bill for him to "plant a new church" wherever they're living and that will be his new "job". Because really what else is he going to be qualified to do there? 

[GreenBeans]

1 hour ago, Nothing if not critical said:

Oh, the German authorities will absolutely notice. As soon as the Romeikes move back, those kids will be registered wherever they live and expected to go to school.

Yes.

I wasn’t aware they still had minor children.

But still, they don’t have to live in Germany. They could live in any EU country that permits home schooling. It’s not like they’ll be thrown into jail as soon as they enter Germany.

Edited September 22, 2023 by GreenBeans

[Hasunah2]

They've clearly reached the found out stage. It pleases me and I'm not feeling charitable today.

[Nothing if not critical]

I just realised: back in Germany, the older kids would probably qualify for government grants if they chose to work towards their high school diploma via evening classes. So they might even be able to get proper jobs and support themselves at some point. So much for being persecuted …

Edited September 22, 2023 by Nothing if not critical

[HereticHick]

34 minutes ago, Hasunah2 said:

They've clearly reached the found out stage. It pleases me and I'm not feeling charitable today.

I'll come sit next to you. I want their entitled white asses deported.

[gobucks]

1 hour ago, GreenBeans said:

Yes.

I wasn’t aware they still had minor children.

But still, they don’t have to live in Germany. They could live in any EU country that permits home schooling. It’s not like they’ll be thrown into jail as soon as they enter Germany.

It is confusing because their 2 kids under 18 are US citizens. I believe they are 10 and 12. 

42 minutes ago, HereticHick said:

I'll come sit next to you. I want their entitled white asses deported.

It is amazing reading the comments on their YouTube video. Someone spent a lot of time clearing out those comments! I am laughing so hard at all the comments talking about how they came here legally and the illegals are the problem. It is pathetic the amount of Americans that have such hatred for other illegals but cannot even process that these white Christians are doing the literal exact same thing! They keep calling them law abiding citizens. They aren't law abiding and they aren't citizens! Whiteness does not give you a magical pass! 

Edited September 22, 2023 by gobucks

[front hugs > duggs]

A government shutdown could also have an effect on how this all plays out. When the government shutdown in 2018-2019, my husband was in the middle of a green card re-application process (petition to remove conditions, formally). His 2 year green card expired during the shutdown, he had applied for his 10 year before the shutdown, so he was here legally, but it drastically delayed how long it took his 10yr to get approved. In the state we lived in at the time, his driver's license expiry date was directly linked to his green card expiry date, leaving him unable to drive until his 10yr green card got approved. This tested our marriage since he is not a good passenger 😬 and also made getting to/from work very difficult.

TLDR: Just pointing out an additional point of irony- the Bateseses support politicians who likely are unwilling to negotiate and keep the government open, not understanding how this could negatively affect them personally.

[rebeccawriter01]

18 minutes ago, gobucks said:

It is amazing reading the comments on their YouTube video. Someone spent a lot of time clearing out those comments! I am laughing so hard at all the comments talking about how they came here legally and the illegals are the problem. It is pathetic the amount of Americans that have such hatred for other illegals but cannot even process that these white Christians are doing the literal exact same thing! They keep calling them law abiding citizens. They aren't law abiding and they aren't citizens! Whiteness does not give you a magical pass! 

Yes, 1000-times. They failed to be here legally 15ish years ago when their 90 day visas ran out and they were denied asylum. From where I am sitting, this couple with their now mostly grown children have broken laws in two countries and expect to be accepted with open arms. They are under zero threat of bodily harm, etc. in Germany. The US system got it right when they said the requirement to go to school was not religious persecution, as it was applied equally to every German family regardless of religion. 

The other part that gets me is that the lawyer (ignoring that they are privileged enough to have a lawyer when so many asylum seekers don't even have that) is quoted as saying the deferred status means they had permission from the US to stay. I want to send him a dictionary. Logic says to me that if the US government was giving them "permission" to stay, they would have green cards or even citizenship at this point. 

[CarrotCake]

2 hours ago, GreenBeans said:

Yes.

I wasn’t aware they still had minor children.

But still, they don’t have to live in Germany. They could live in any EU country that permits home schooling. It’s not like they’ll be thrown into jail as soon as they enter Germany.

Indeed, they can just go to Portugal where all of the Dutch conspiracy-idiots are going. They level of English is quite good there and the adults can get busy with converting catholics.

[front hugs > duggs]

27 minutes ago, rebeccawriter01 said:

Yes, 1000-times. They failed to be here legally 15ish years ago when their 90 day visas ran out and they were denied asylum. From where I am sitting, this couple with their now mostly grown children have broken laws in two countries and expect to be accepted with open arms. They are under zero threat of bodily harm, etc. in Germany. The US system got it right when they said the requirement to go to school was not religious persecution, as it was applied equally to every German family regardless of religion. 

The other part that gets me is that the lawyer (ignoring that they are privileged enough to have a lawyer when so many asylum seekers don't even have that) is quoted as saying the deferred status means they had permission from the US to stay. I want to send him a dictionary. Logic says to me that if the US government was giving them "permission" to stay, they would have green cards or even citizenship at this point. 

Exactly- per USCIS website:

Quote

Deferred action is an exercise of prosecutorial discretion to defer removal action against an individual for a certain period of time. Deferred action does not provide lawful status.

 

[BeccaGrim]

5 hours ago, GreenBeans said:

This is ridiculous. No one will bring any criminal charges against them if they return now. Their children are adults now, zero will happen.

And they wouldn’t even necessarily have to return to Germany. They could live anywhere in the EU.

No, their sole issue is that they have a community in the US favoring their brand of fundamentalism. They have built a life in the US. They do not want to leave that behind.

But guess what? It’s what all people wishing to immigrate to the US face when they are not accepted, despite having lived and worked there for years. It’s the law (which, by the way, they strongly support when it is about immigrants with a different skin color). And there is absolutely no reason to make an exception for this family.

Hi question in regard to this. Are most EU countries like Germany with the homeschooling or could they move say to...France and homeschool there? 

[GreenBeans]

7 minutes ago, BeccaGrim said:

Hi question in regard to this. Are most EU countries like Germany with the homeschooling or could they move say to...France and homeschool there? 

They could move to Austria, which is German-speaking and permits home schooling. There was never a reason to move that far away in the first place. Plenty of EU countries permit home schooling.

[ven]

Belgium waking up! Im 1 hr drive away from where the romeikes lived back then. We have  big german community with its own governement ,  we are a 3 governement country ( dutch/ french/ german ) its extremely complicated. But you can freely homeschool here. You can even live here, homeschool here and still work in germany... whilst being a german citizen,  with public housing and welfare,  anyways. They had the option to move to : austria, france, belgium and poland, and another 19 countries between europe and the usa   where homeschooling is allowed. Lol 

[Mar]

I just read the petition and the first two sentences already make me angry. “The Romeikes are a homeschool family forced to flee Germany. They were being persecuted because of their religious conviction that they should be the ones directing their children’s education.” 

Forced to flee Germany? They were being persecuted? That is SO ridiculous that I can’t believe how anyone can believe it’s true. 

By the way, I’m from Germany and I’m a teacher and I used to work at a Christian school. There is absolutely no reason the Romeikes couldn’t send their kids to a school like that. Those schools are private schools and while they have to follow their state’s curriculum just like any other school, they’re extremely Christian. As in everyone who works there has to be a practicing Christian, the teachers pray with the students every day, there are Bible lessons and so on. It’s a lot of indoctrination actually and I couldn’t see myself ever going back to a school like that. I also couldn’t see how there could be anything the Romeikes could complain about at a school like that, so yeah, just like everyone already said, this is all just a lot of ridiculous bullshit.

I am really curious to see how this plays out though.

[Hasunah2]

5 hours ago, GreenBeans said:

They could move to Austria, which is German-speaking and permits home schooling. There was never a reason to move that far away in the first place. Plenty of EU countries permit home schooling.

But even they probably would show that the kids learn what they are supposed to learn in public school and maybe that's too liberal .

All this just reminds me of the fact that we prayed in school every morning  and I can still memorize it. 

"Vater im Himmel, die Schule beginnt, leg deine Hand auf jedes Kind. Dass wir alle mit deinem Segen gut und gerne lernen mögen.Amen" (something like dear god , school's starting, help us to learn successfully and joyfully )

And I attended  normal public schools from the late 1980s all through the 1990s and graduated in 2002

[Jigsaw3]

11 hours ago, Nothing if not critical said:

Oh, the German authorities will absolutely notice. As soon as the Romeikes move back, those kids will be registered wherever they live and expected to go to school. Afaik, the law applies to kids living in Germany, irrespective of their nationality. They might be able to send them to an American expat school that teaches a US curriculum, or to a private school, but they still won't be allowed to homeschool.

Yes, agreed.

Because don't they have to register when they get to Germany? I am not European, but I thought that anyone taking up residence in Germany has to be registered, and if the children are minors that will be noted.  I may be confused, so our German-resident FJers,  please let me know how it works!

[Smoochie]

The comments on their Instagram posts are wild and they're not (at least not yet) deleting them! Humper's are trying to fight back with fox nonsense and being called out.

[kittykay]

For years we have seen Rethuglicans scream and turn themselves inside out over non-white immigrants coming to the US to have a baby so (in Repubs opinion) they stay in the US.  And have screamed for years they should be deported.  What makes this family so special?  Oh wait.  I forgot...they're white.  

[medimus]

Homeschooling is legal in more EU countries than not, rules differ between countries. In the EU you can move wherever you like if you have an EU passport. There are other German speaking countries (Belgium, Austria, parts of northern Italy). They can go to Ireland if they want English (though the religious homeschoolers in Ireland are mostly very Catholic).

As a previous poster said, they lived an hour from the Belgian border, that bit of Belgium speaks German, you can work and live in different EU countries without much difficulty, plenty of people near borders do it, you can also go to school over the border if you like. 

About the registering thing, I have lived in the UK, Belgium and Ireland and I think Germany is more like Belgium than the other countries. In the UK and Ireland you just move wherever and get a national insurance number/PPS number by showing various forms of ID and proof of address, whereas in Belgium you absolutely have to register at the local town hall, get an ID card (if over 12) and then the police come and check your address. I can't remember moving to Belgium initially as I was a baby, but when moving internally you move in, then go to your (new) town hall with your ID card, then the police come around at an unspecified time to check you actually live there, they give you a piece of paper which you take back to the town hall and then the address on your ID card gets updated. You can't do much without an ID card.

This is a map of homeschooling legality: Green is legal with no restrictions (or very few), grey is unkown, red is illegal with no known exeptions and yellow and orange are legal with restrictions and legal in certain circumstances.

[Mar]

1 hour ago, medimus said:

 About the registering thing, I have lived in the UK, Belgium and Ireland and I think Germany is more like Belgium than the other countries. In the UK and Ireland you just move wherever and get a national insurance number/PPS number by showing various forms of ID and proof of address, whereas in Belgium you absolutely have to register at the local town hall, get an ID card (if over 12) and then the police come and check your address. I can't remember moving to Belgium initially as I was a baby, but when moving internally you move in, then go to your (new) town hall with your ID card, then the police come around at an unspecified time to check you actually live there, they give you a piece of paper which you take back to the town hall and then the address on your ID card gets updated. You can't do much without an ID card.

It is similar in Germany. You have to register at the local town hall and then they change your address on your ID card. If you’re renting you need to bring an official document from your landlord that says that you live there, I’m not sure what you need to bring if you’re a homeowner. No one comes by to check if you actually do live there though, that is fascinating!

[medimus]

41 minutes ago, Mar said:

It is similar in Germany. You have to register at the local town hall and then they change your address on your ID card. If you’re renting you need to bring an official document from your landlord that says that you live there, I’m not sure what you need to bring if you’re a homeowner. No one comes by to check if you actually do live there though, that is fascinating!

Ooh, I wonder if Belgium is unique in that then, and why.

They come by, if you're not home they try a few times. But they don't just check you are in (and look at your ID card to make sure it is you), they also have a look around the flat/house to see that you actually live there, have stuff around etc.

[ven]

Yes they ( the police) actually come physically check if you do live at said adress. The last two times i moved i was however warned that police officer x would come at my door at date, hour. One was very strict and asked a lot of questions, the other one looked at le and said it's oke it is a bit weird indeed 

[llucie]

In Spain homeschooling is in a legal vacuum. Its not illegal but its also not legal. Wich means if someones denounces the family for not having their kids in school it would depend on the social services what happens, like case by case. There have been cases where the family has been forced to put their kids in school that has been on the news.

Personally i think its better to have it regulated with restrictions like some other countries have, where there is annual test to see if the kids are learning what they should be learning.