A law review article written by Miki Kawashima Matrician was published in the
  May 2011 Boston College International and Comparative Law Review and
  provides additional support for the Romeike family’s political asylum case. The
  law review article, entitled “Germany Homeschoolers as ‘Particular Social
  Group’: Evaluation Under Current U.S. Asylum Jurisprudence,” provides an
  interesting and comprehensive analysis of this controversial and unsettled
  aspect of U.S. asylum law. Many groups have attempted to seek asylum under the
  status of a “particular social group,” including abused women, individual
  families, taxi drivers, and gang recruits. 
 

  In January 2010, U.S. Immigration Judge Lawrence O. Burman granted the German
  Romeike family political asylum in large part because of their membership in
  the  particular social group of “homeschoolers in Germany.” In a case that is
  the  first of its kind, Burman stated that “homeschoolers are a particular
  social  group that the German government is trying to suppress. This family has
  a  well-founded fear of persecution … therefore, they are eligible for asylum …
  and  the court will grant asylum.” The Romeike family fled Germany with their
  children and were represented by HSLDA in their political asylum case.


The Romeikes’ case was immediately appealed by the Obama administration to 
the federal Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), who have had the case since
July  2010 but have yet to make a final decision. In their appeal, the U.S.
Government  Agency for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) called
homeschoolers too “amorphous” to be a “particular social group” and that “United
States law has  recognized the broad power of the state to compel school
attendance and regulate  curriculum and teacher certification” as well as the
“authority to prohibit or  regulate homeschooling.”


Germany officially states that homeschooling is illegal, although more than 
500 children are currently homeschooled in Germany. Virtually all operate 
underground or face some type of court proceeding.


In her article, Matrician discusses in detail the definition and criteria of
“membership in a particular social group.” In light of the evidence, she argues,
  the BIA should find that all German homeschoolers comprise a particular social
  group, regardless of whether the Romeike family successfully established a
claim  of well-founded fear of persecution. “Homeschoolers in Germany … are
perceived  as a recognizable group by their alleged persecutor, as well as by
society at  large—in Germany and abroad,” she concludes. “[The BIA] should
strive … to  provide a safe haven for those in dire straits.”


HSLDA Director of International Relations Michael Donnelly notes the
  article's importance:


“We have submitted the law review article as new evidence in the
  Romeikes’ ground-breaking case. There is a strong argument in favor of
upholding  Judge Burman’s decision to grant asylum to the Romeike family. We are
hopeful  that this new evidence will further demonstrate to the BIA that
homeschoolers in  Germany are members of a particular social group and that
Germany’s treatment of  them is persecution and therefore that they qualify for
protection under U.S.  asylum law.”
 


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