Officials with United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement extended permission for the Romeike family, an evangelical Christian family from Germany who fled to the United States so that they could homeschool their children, to remain in America for at least another year.

Uwe and Hannelore Romeike obtained “indefinite deferred action” asylum status in 2013 after nationwide pressure toward the Obama administration, thereby permitting them to homeschool their children outside of Germany, where home education is disallowed. They received “extended permission” from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to remain in the United States for another year following threats in 2023 that they would be sent back to Germany.

“With your help, a lot of hard work, and the faithful provision of the Most High God, that situation will not be repeating itself this year,” Home School Legal Defense Association Action executive director Joel Grewe commented in a statement about the decision. “Until a permanent solution is achieved, we will continue to work with members of Congress and others to advocate on their behalf for a just and permanent solution, so that the family does not face this risk each year.”

The family had indeed been abruptly told last year that they had four weeks to apply for German passports so that they could be deported. The Romeikes, who reside in east Tennessee, have two children who are American citizens and two children who have married American citizens.

Staff members at the Home School Legal Defense Association launched a petition to prevent the deportation of the Romeike family which earned over 100,000 signatures and lobbied for a bill filed by Tennessee Republican Representative Diana Harshbarger to extend immigrant visas or permanent resident status to the Romeike family members.

Germany has prohibited home education for more than a century, while private religious schools, which are often costly, must utilize state-mandated curriculum from the areas in which they are located. German parents who seek to provide their children with a distinctly Christian education have either left the country in recent years or faced forcible removal of their children.

Biden administration officials were criticized for the attempted deportation of the Romeike family since the move came amid a border crisis and mass illegal immigration into the United States.