Last week, U.S. Rep. Dan Webster, R-Fla., led more than 30 House Republicans in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas is requesting that asylum status is granted to the Romeike family.
In early September, the Biden administration notified the Romeike family that they have four weeks to apply for German passports, or face deportation.
“To force this refugee family to suddenly return to Germany, with a government that once forcibly removed their children from their home simply for observing their deeply held religious beliefs, is immoral and indefensible,” the members wrote. “We, the undersigned members of Congress, respectfully ask that you use this power given to you by Congress to grant the Romeike family asylum.”
According to his office, Webster “was first made aware of the Romeike family’s case more than a decade ago when they sought asylum in the United States from Germany due to the German government’s ban on homeschooling.”
Webster’s office offered some of the details.
“In 2013, just days after a letter request from Congressman Webster, then-Attorney General Eric Holder granted the Romeikes “indefinitely deferred action status,” enabling them to live and work in the United States. However, the Romeike family is facing the possibility of deportation to Germany from the Biden Administration even as they work to gain full green card status,” Webster’s office noted.
Among the members who signed the letter was U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, R-Fla.