A gay Filipino immigrant has won a deportation reprieve because he would be persecuted while Christian parents who fled Germany to avoid punishment for homeschooling have been denied U.S. asylum and must make a long-shot appeal to the Supreme Court.
The facts of both cases are sad.
The gay Filipino is Dennis Vitug. He got deported after he was sentenced for drug possession.
Vitug, 37, came to the United States in 1999 and overstayed his tourist visa. He held a couple jobs. He studied fashion design. In 2001, he got addicted to crystal meth. There were attempts to get clean followed up relapses. There were arrests. There was prison time.
Vitug was diagnosed as HIV-positive in 2005.
On Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously overturned a decision by an immigration appeals court to deport the Southern California man, reports the Los Angeles Times.
The court’s rationale was that Vitug would likely be discriminated against if he returns to the Philippines. The court noted Vitug’s allegation that he had been and robbed and beaten five times in his home country because of his effeminate nature and his sexual orientation.
The three judges on the panel had been appointed by the last three Democratic presidents: Obama, Clinton and Carter.
“No reasonable fact finder could conclude that the harm Vitug suffered did not rise to the level of persecution,” concluded the Carter appointee, Harry Pregerson.
The judges also ruled that an immigration appeals board was unable to demonstrate “less violence against gay men” or better response “to reports of antigay hate crimes” in the Philippines since 1999, when Vitug got his visa.
Meanwhile, Uwe and Hannelore Romeike relocated to Tennessee in 2008 after the German government levied fines against them totaling 7,000 euros (currently a bit over $9,000) because they opted to homeschool their children.
The Christian parents wanted to abscond from Germany because they feared the state would take their children away based on their continuing rejection of a law mandating that all children attend a school outside the home, reports the Associated Press. (RELATED: German homeschool parents denied asylum will appeal to Supremes)
Initially, a Memphis immigration judge granted asylum to the family. However, that decision was overturned. In May, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Romeikes don’t meet the criteria for asylum under federal law because Germany treats every truant student the same and does not discriminate against religious minorities—only homeschoolers.
The family’s lawyer, Michael Farris, who also leads up the Home School Legal Defense Association, disagrees with the ruling. He says homeschooling should be treated as a fundamental right.
“They took the position that if a nation wants to deny everyone a fundamental human right, that’s okay,” Farris said.
If the Supreme Court refused the case, the homeschooling family will likely be bereft of options.
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