Feds officially confirm German home-schooling family will be allowed to stay in US

The Romeike family (Courtesy: Home School Legal Defense Association)

The Department of Homeland Security officially confirmed Wednesday that a German home-schooling family that had faced deportation following the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear their appeal will be allowed to stay in the U.S.

An agency spokesman told Fox News that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement chose to exercise “prosecutorial discretion” in the case of the Romeike family, who claim the German government was persecuting them for their Christian beliefs.

That means the family can stay in the United States without the threat of being forced return to their home country, the family’s legal team told Fox News.

The family moved to Morristown, Tenn., in 2008 after facing fines and threats for refusing to send their kids to a state-approved school in Germany, which is required by law in that country. If the Romeikes had stayed in Germany, they risked losing custody of their children.

Initially, the family was granted asylum in 2010 based on religious freedom grounds, but the Obama administration decided to appeal that decision, and won. The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear the family's appeal.