On Tuesday, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals said that Uwe and Hannelore Romeike along with their children were not persecuted by the German government and will not be granted asylum in the United States.

According to the Religion News Service, the Romeikes wanted to home school their children, fearing public education would discourage “Christian values.” The German government levied thousands of dollars of fines on the family and threatened to take away their children. The Romeikes fled Germany and moved to the United States in 2008, hoping they would be free to home school their children, but this did not turn out to be the case.

The UK’s Daily Mail states that an immigration judge granted the family asylum back in 2010, but the Board of Immigration Appeals overturned the ruling in 2012 bringing the Romeikes to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. The court ruled “that U.S. immigration laws do not grant a safe haven to people everywhere who face restrictions that would be prohibited under the Constitution.” According to a press release from the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA):

The court said that the Romeikes had not made a sufficient case and that the United States has not opened its doors to every victim of unfair treatment. Although the court acknowledged that the U.S. Constitution recognizes the rights of parents to direct the education and upbringing of their children, it refused to concede that the harsh treatment of religiously and philosophically motivated homeschoolers in Germany amounts to persecution within our laws on asylum.

The Romeikes and the HSLDA plan to appeal to the Supreme Court. Back in February, Joe Carter profiled the Romeikes and their fight for religious freedom on the Powerblog.