German Family Succeeds in Unusual Asylum Case
Posted on | March 3, 2010 | No Comments
America is often called a “melting pot” because of its diverse population. Over the last two hundred years immigrants from all over the world have made their homes in the United States, and cosmopolitan cities like Las Vegas, Nevada continue to attract performers, entrepreneurs, and tourists alike.
Americans have not always managed this diversity well, permitting slavery and then segregation and greeting each epoch’s new immigrants with a fresh wave of xenophobia. Despite these shortcomings, the United States has generally protected the rights of minorities, and with few exceptions the government has not taken part in the mistreatment of immigrants or incendiary activists.
This is not the case in many other countries, and the United States has a robust asylum program in place to protect the values of tolerance and freedom of expression throughout the world. U.S. asylum petitions are normally filed by refugees from developing countries where the government or a large social group persecutes certain citizens who are members of a racial, religious, or ethnic minority.
Asylum claims also come from other countries, from citizens who oppose the political establishment and have been jailed or threatened with reprisals for their political activities. In some cases, members of particular social groups suffer persecution. Foreign nationals can be paroled into the United States if, upon arriving, they demonstrate a credible fear of persecution in their country of origin. Non-resident aliens who enter the country unlawfully can make an asylum claim within one year of arriving.
A case from Germany highlights an unusual basis for an asylum claim. An immigration judge recently granted asylum to a German family that wished to home-school their children in contravention of German laws for mandatory school attendance. Though the family was not being persecuted in a strict sense–there were no claims of violence or disenfranchisement or harassment–the immigration judge found that the family’s ideological liberties were being trampled by the German law. Since an American judge has no authority to change German law, the family was granted asylum to come to the United States and school their children as they see fit.
Foreign nationals who seek asylum will file a claim and eventually be summoned to an asylum interview before an asylum office to analyze the credibility of the asylum seeker’s claim of persecution. Asylum seekers from Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and most of Nevada have their asylum interviews at the USCIS asylum office located in San Francisco.
Tags: Alaska > Asylum > Asylum Office > Entrepreneur > Germany > Immigration Judge > Nevada-Las Vegas > Northern California > Northern Nevada > Oregon > Performer > Persecution > Political Asylum > Religious Asylum > San Francisco > Tourist > Washington
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