Trace and Lydia: Can She Become a Citizen Now?

[3 is enough]

Dumb question, but as I understand it the Romeikes do not have current German passports. How can they self deport without  valid travel documents?

[Notabug]

12 minutes ago, 3 is enough said:

Dumb question, but as I understand it the Romeikes do not have current German passports. How can they self deport without  valid travel documents?

They can't, which is why US Customs gave them 30 days to get new German passports. They don't seem to be doing that, though. 

[Salacious Kitty]

12 minutes ago, 3 is enough said:

Dumb question, but as I understand it the Romeikes do not have current German passports. How can they self deport without  valid travel documents?

As I understand it, they had 30 days to get the passports and then self deport. 

Just now, Notabug said:

They can't, which is why US Customs gave them 30 days to get new German passports. They don't seem to be doing that, though. 

Right. As I have said before, they seem the type not to follow instructions.

[AstridM]

3 hours ago, Natalie68 said:

This is the most stupid reason I have ever heard of.  

They’re literally trying to equate their situation to actual persecuted people fleeing Nazis. It’s disgusting. 

[Heathen]

2 hours ago, BitterApple said:

Speaking of which, what's going to happen to poor Maui? I can't imagine Trace is going to want to go through the headache of getting the proper health certificate so Maui can travel (not to mention pay the fees), so I imagine he'll be left behind. I pray they at least contact a reputable rescue and don't give him to the Bates. Maui is deaf and can't be an outdoor cat, and Kelly has previously said she doesn't like animals in the house. 

She should have thought about that before she had 267 kids. 

Edited September 22, 2023 by Heathen

[AstridM]

23 minutes ago, Heathen said:

She should have thought about that before she had 267 kids. 

She doesn’t think at all - apparently she’s been on IG all day telling people that Lydia and her family have always been here “legally.” 🤦‍♀️

[JAYJAY1979]

Could you have imagined if this had happened if their show hadn't off been canceled?

Ratings would have been up,and people might have rallied for them.  A blessing in disguise that the show was canceled before this went down.

I imagine Trace's previous courtship candidate is secretly relieved she dodged a bullet.

[Salacious Kitty]

Yup, just coming here to post about Kelly. I left a comment saying they couldn't get green cards because they're undocumented. Let's see if the leghumpers gang up on me. 🤪

[floridamom]

They need a real, good immigration lawyer; not a petition.

[Salacious Kitty]

4 minutes ago, floridamom said:

They need a real, good immigration lawyer; not a petition.

I believe they're using someone from the HSLDA. I don't know how well versed they are with immigration law. Their specialty is domestic homeschooling rights. 

[Heathen]

6 minutes ago, floridamom said:

They need a real, good immigration lawyer; not a petition.

They need a freaking magic wand because there is ethically and legally no reason why they should be allowed to stay. "Being an attention whore" is not a reason to be granted asylum even if that ship were still docked. 

[floridamom]

Salacious Kitty; if this is true, they are not approaching the issue from the correct angle. Their status in this country and rectifying IT  is 1st and foremost

in their situation. Do you agree? If here legally with no issues, homeschooling would be their individual choice....but if KELLY BATES says that they are here legally, I guess they don't need to do anything, right? (oh my).

I think an immigration attorney would help these idiots undo the "knots" in their situation and can help them from where they stand now; if leaving the USA and returning here legally is the thing to do, this professional can help them straighten every thing out...I think the adults in this family would all have to have individual cases, right? Trace needs to concentrate on Lydia's situation

[Salacious Kitty]

They're tackling this from a fundie viewpoint, which may doom them. I don't know enough about their lawyer to say definitively, but as I said before, this might not be their main area of practice. 

[ginger90]

I’m surprised Kelly left comments on. I’m more surprised by the fact she’s actually responding to posts. What I’m not surprised by is how ridiculous she sounds.

 

Trace, having nothing better to do, is probably on a blocking spree on his post.

[RebeccatheWriter]

Per the experts in immigration and education that I spoke to this week, the Romeikes are considered undocumented. Their petition for asylum didn't fall in their favor. 

Deferment doesn't mean they are magically legally able to become citizens. It is a term to refer to a delayed decision to deport. They still fall into the broader undocumented category that isn't just inclusive of one kind of situation. Their deferred status only means that since that status started they did not accrue, if you will, additional violations. 

Edited September 23, 2023 by RebeccatheWriter

[SabineElisabeth]

21 hours ago, Salacious Kitty said:

Kelly Jo is trying to say they're here legally. Nice try but not true. 

21 hours ago, RebeccatheWriter said:

I'm rolling my eyes at all of it. They were legal for a total of 90 days when they first arrived. Since then they are undocumented and in much the same circumstances legally as any other undocumented person. The difference is that the country they are "fleeing" simply wanted to educate their children.

Not to be argumentative, but when I'm not watching (and snarking on) reality tv, I practice law - and the lawyer side of me has a hard time not commenting when I see incorrect legal info being shared.  So, just to clarify, immigrants granted deferred action do not have lawful (legal) status, but they are lawfully (legally) present in the United States.  Additionally, "undocumented" is a term of art, meaning immigrants who are not lawfully present in the United States.  Because immigrants granted deferred action are lawfully present, they are not considered to be "undocumented." 

[Salacious Kitty]

If not, why don't they have green cards? There is something in their status that seems to preclude that.

[AstridM]

1 hour ago, ginger90 said:

Trace, having nothing better to do, is probably on a blocking spree on his post.

He has been all day, according to Reddit 😆. They’re both getting hammered.

[Heathen]

1 hour ago, AstridM said:

He has been all day, according to Reddit 😆. They’re both getting hammered.

Quoted on Reddit: "They owed $9,000 USD in fines when they left Germany." I wonder if those fines are still in force, and if so, whether they have anything at all to do with the Romeikes not wanting to go home. 

[Salacious Kitty]

Per the USCIS website:

Deferred action is an exercise of prosecutorial discretion to defer removal action against an individual for a certain period of time. Deferred action does not provide lawful status.

[GeeGolly]

The comments on KJ's post are brutal - brutally honest.

This is so typical of Fundies. They want laws making life their way until they don't. They want to strip the rights of millions of folks, but when it applies to them the want exceptions.

The Romeikes can bring JB along when they try to plead their case. He'll ask the judge if he allows that and the judge will be like, oh right, I see what you mean, they can stay and for good measure I'll let your son out of jail. 🙃

[Meow Mix]

I have low vision and can't drive, but I would totally find a way to get to Tennessee and pick up that poor cat so that he doesn't end up being thrown outside.

It's amazing to me that these people were so caught up in their fundy self-righteousness that they didn't ask questions or think about how to avoid this mess for Trace and Lydia.  She could nave gotten her German passport when they married or even before and she and Trace could have headed to Germany after the wedding.  From there, she could have started the process of getting legal documents to come to the US and pursue citizenship.  Trace could have either come back to the US when his visa expired or looked into what it would take to stay in Germany with her.  If they had a baby while there, Trace could have done the paperwork to get the baby proper US documents.  All of this could have been finished well before any children were of school age so they could come back to the US and indulge in poorly educating said children.  No one thought this through and now here they are.  I have very little sympathy for anyone in this mess at this point because they just arrogantly thought they could stay in the US forever because they are white and Christian.

As someone above said, I'm not cheering for deportation, but I'm not crying over it either.  It sounds like the authorities gave them plenty of warning that deportation was coming (as far back as 2019) and no one took any action.  Too bad so sad.  And Kelly can take several seats with her nonsense. 

As to the petition, a friend of mine teaches high school.  Some administrator did something some parent didn't like and they got up a petition to get said administrator fired.  My friend's students just couldn't understand why the firing didn't happen because the petition had a lot of signatures.  She had to explain to them that you can draw up petitions all day long, but the decision was up to higher officials who were not looking at in this case an unpopularity contest to make their decisions.  I'm sure an immigration judge doesn't care what a bunch of fundies and leghumpers think either.

[3 is enough]

The Romeikes were featured on a segment on Fox News this weekend. How surprising! 🙄

I did not see it, but they are talking about it on Reddit.

[oliviabenson]

I wonder if Trace can’t afford an immigration attorney. Hiring a lawyer is expensive? 
 

 

[Salacious Kitty]

2 minutes ago, oliviabenson said:

I wonder if Trace can’t afford an immigration attorney. Hiring a lawyer is expensive? 
 

 

HSLDA is representing the entire family. Pro bono, most likely 

[AstridM]

4 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

HSLDA is representing the entire family. Pro bono, most likely 

But they’re not immigration attorneys and haven’t done anything to move this case along for years .

[oliviabenson]

Well you get what you pay for 🤣

[BetyBee]

21 minutes ago, oliviabenson said:

I wonder if Trace can’t afford an immigration attorney. Hiring a lawyer is expensive? 
 

 

Maybe he could ask JB for attorney recommendations? 😉

[Notabug]

51 minutes ago, AstridM said:

But they’re not immigration attorneys and haven’t done anything to move this case along for years .

I am sure the recent PR campaign is also geared at finding a fundie lawyer who practices immigration law and will volunteer their services.  The problem is that most fundie lawyers who practice immigration law are busy trying to keep people out of the country.

Gee, I have a cousin who practiced immigration law with the INS for decades before he retired.  I'd give him a call but I already can imagine what he'd have to say about this particular case.  "Oh, HELL No!!!" comes to mind.

Edited September 24, 2023 by Notabug

[BitterApple]

On 9/22/2023 at 7:10 PM, Heathen said:

Quoted on Reddit: "They owed $9,000 USD in fines when they left Germany." I wonder if those fines are still in force, and if so, whether they have anything at all to do with the Romeikes not wanting to go home. 

Wow, they're in quite the pickle. Can't stay in the U.S., and 9k is a pretty steep bill for a guy who tunes pianos. If the German authorities went so far as to take the kids at one point, I'm guessing they're not the warm and fuzzy types who'll erase a fine. 

What happens if the Romeikes simply don't deport? Given how eager they are to portray themselves as martyrs, I can see them hiding out and refusing to go. If they haven't even gotten the passport applications in motion, it doesn't sound like they plan on leaving. 

[GeeGolly]

Seeing as the Romeikes have no case, and they've gone very public, they've ruined any chance for someone to help them on the downlow and made it harder for them to fade away and hide.

All countries have laws. Our choices are to follow them or try to change them. Or, I guess, to break them.

It seems to me the Romeikes are shit outta luck.

[Notabug]

7 hours ago, BitterApple said:

Wow, they're in quite the pickle. Can't stay in the U.S., and 9k is a pretty steep bill for a guy who tunes pianos. If the German authorities went so far as to take the kids at one point, I'm guessing they're not the warm and fuzzy types who'll erase a fine. 

What happens if the Romeikes simply don't deport? Given how eager they are to portray themselves as martyrs, I can see them hiding out and refusing to go. If they haven't even gotten the passport applications in motion, it doesn't sound like they plan on leaving. 

If they don't deport, warrants will be issued and they will be fugitives from the law.   They won't be able to buy a house, sign a lease, get a job or buy a car without some sort of background check which will risk their discovery.  Renewing their drivers' licenses will be impossible.  Once they are caught, and there are really too many of them not to think that won't happen, they'll be held in custody and forcibly put on a plane and sent to any country that will accept them if they don't have valid passports.

I would expect that their $9000 fine has grown substantially due to interest over the past 13+ years. And, no, I don't think the German government really cares how much they love Jesus or how poorly educated and barely employable any of them might be; they're going to have to pay up.

Edited September 25, 2023 by Notabug

[AstridM]

9 hours ago, BitterApple said:

Wow, they're in quite the pickle. Can't stay in the U.S., and 9k is a pretty steep bill for a guy who tunes pianos. If the German authorities went so far as to take the kids at one point, I'm guessing they're not the warm and fuzzy types who'll erase a fine. 

What happens if the Romeikes simply don't deport? Given how eager they are to portray themselves as martyrs, I can see them hiding out and refusing to go. If they haven't even gotten the passport applications in motion, it doesn't sound like they plan on leaving. 

Their kids were never “taken” by the authorities in Germany.  They’re liars. 

Edited September 25, 2023 by AstridM

[Heathen]

4 hours ago, AstridM said:

Their kids were never “taken” by the authorities in Germany.  They’re liars. 

Much less at gunpoint. Everything is so performative with these dipshits. 

I've since read that the statute of limitations on the fines ran out around 2015. If that's the case, I'm disappointed. These bible-beating liars deserve to have to pay the fines. 

[AstridM]

2 hours ago, Heathen said:

Much less at gunpoint. Everything is so performative with these dipshits. 

I've since read that the statute of limitations on the fines ran out around 2015. If that's the case, I'm disappointed. These bible-beating liars deserve to have to pay the fines. 

PLUS interest. 

[cereality]

How old is their kid? Days? Weeks? Bc Lydia has an IG saying that they had to take him to the ER 2 nights ago bc he had a cold and his O2 levels were dropping!? Do they have an O2 monitor at home? He tested negative for Covid/RSV so it's just a cold but she talks about how it was scary. And yet when he was born we saw pics of him w G&K, her parents, 3-4 members of her family, Michael, Bobby & Tori, Carlin & Layla, Josie, their barber and his wife, Isaiah, Addie, Callie, Jeb, and this weekend - Lawson who I believe has just gotten off a flight from Cali.

HELLO??? I know Covid is over blah blah but it very much isn't. Even if you personally don't care/think Covid is NBD, wouldn't you protect a newborn from whatever is going around - colds, Covid, RSV. I'm thinking handing him around to at minimum of 20 people in whatever days/weeks he's been out of the womb may not be the way to go here.

[Heathen]

Just now, cereality said:

How old is their kid? Days? Weeks? Bc Lydia has an IG saying that they had to take him to the ER 2 nights ago bc he had a cold and his O2 levels were dropping!? Do they have an O2 monitor at home? He tested negative for Covid/RSV so it's just a cold but she talks about how it was scary. And yet when he was born we saw pics of him w G&K, her parents, 3-4 members of her family, Michael, Bobby & Tori, Carlin & Layla, Josie, their barber and his wife, Isaiah, Addie, Callie, Jeb, and this weekend - Lawson who I believe has just gotten off a flight from Cali.

HELLO??? I know Covid is over blah blah but it very much isn't. Even if you personally don't care/think Covid is NBD, wouldn't you protect a newborn from whatever is going around - colds, Covid, RSV. I'm thinking handing him around to at minimum of 20 people in whatever days/weeks he's been out of the womb may not be the way to go here.

My first thought was that they're gearing up for an "excuse" for her to not be deported. "But oh, my child was so sick two weeks ago, we had to take him to the ER! Oh, you mean you saw the social media posts of him being slobbered on by 697 relatives and 14 passersby? Oops."

Second thought was these people are stupid and they think their child's health is not important because they can just have another one. These morons are quantity over quality. 

[Notabug]

1 hour ago, cereality said:

How old is their kid? Days? Weeks? Bc Lydia has an IG saying that they had to take him to the ER 2 nights ago bc he had a cold and his O2 levels were dropping!? Do they have an O2 monitor at home? He tested negative for Covid/RSV so it's just a cold but she talks about how it was scary. And yet when he was born we saw pics of him w G&K, her parents, 3-4 members of her family, Michael, Bobby & Tori, Carlin & Layla, Josie, their barber and his wife, Isaiah, Addie, Callie, Jeb, and this weekend - Lawson who I believe has just gotten off a flight from Cali.

HELLO??? I know Covid is over blah blah but it very much isn't. Even if you personally don't care/think Covid is NBD, wouldn't you protect a newborn from whatever is going around - colds, Covid, RSV. I'm thinking handing him around to at minimum of 20 people in whatever days/weeks he's been out of the womb may not be the way to go here.

You can buy a pulse oximeter at virtually any big pharmacy, big box store or online for around 50 bucks these days, I expect a lot of people have them.  

And, yeah, letting dozens of people slobber all over your new baby is a great way to end up in the ER with a sick kid.

I'm sure none of them are up to date on COVID vaccination, if they have them at all; let alone have any of them updated their TDaP which is also strongly recommended for anyone hanging out with a newborn.  RSV vaccines are very new, so it might be a while before those common.

There is also absolutely no way whatsoever that people washed their hands before handling the kid and avoided kissing his face or hands, let alone wore a mask if they weren't feeling well.

[cereality]

Fear not folks, after being scared this weekend re whatever was going on with the newborn, by Monday they're over it bc they decide the best place to take a newborn is Bradley and Kasey's soccer practice with Jeb, Jud, and presumably all of Z&W's other kids in tow. In a way soccer isn't the worst outing bc you can park your stroller far from others. But with this fam - come on. No way Whit won't want her pics with the baby, no way Jeb, Jud, Bradley, Kasey, whoever Z&W's other kids are won't be encouraged to kiss the baby or whatever.

Pretty sure Trace is anti covid vax. He hasn't said but his ideology on other things and the government seems to suggest that, so I'm fairly certain Lydia would not have gotten it at all - let alone while pregnant with Trace's precious boy.

Though even before Covid, pretty sure new parents esp of first kids took some care to avoid exposing their newborn to 8000 others esp young kids!?

[Salacious Kitty]

These idiots deserve to be deported. The poor little mite is probably still sick. 

[iluvobx]

I saw that they have less than 2 weeks to leave the US.  Seems like the US is not playing games with them anymore.  This will be interesting.  They really are a bunch of dipshits.  Sad thing is, they are giving Christians a very bad name and look!

[Notabug]

1 hour ago, cereality said:

 

-Do we know if Trace even knew any of this when he married?

 

Trace certainly knew they were not here legally and could be deported.  The Romeike family has been trumpeting it all over fundie social media for a decade.  Literally, a decade.  Trace ain't that bright, so I expect he took them at their less than truthful word and didn't bother to hire an attorney to investigate the situation for him before they married.

At this point, I think they're depending on God to rescue them in the form of a like-minded Christian immigration official who can somehow pull some strings and make it all go away.  They've been in the country around 13 years now without that happening, but I am sure they still expect it.  And, if they are forcibly deported, they'll plaster the news all over social media and proclaim themselves Christian martyrs.  And beg for donations.

[ginger90]

Cherry picking “God’s will”. It was God’s will to come here in the first place? Perhaps it’s God’s will that they get the heck out? 

[Salacious Kitty]

@Notabug they've been here since 2008. Fifteen years of this. 

[ginger90]

Kelly’s latest:

[AstridM]

And these kids are different from the DACA “dreamers” that the Bates want deported because?

[cereality]

Well these 2 kids featured above aren't dreamers bc they were born in the US. So they're citizens and more than welcome to stay. If Kelly is soooooo upset that they'd have to leave because their white Christian parents and siblings would have to leave, well why doesn't she take them in until age 18? Does she not need any more cooking and cleaning help as Addie/Ellie will be married and gone in 2-5 years. She could homeschool them just as well as she homeschooled Trace and the rest of her illiterate children. I mean Trace could stay here with Ryker if he had 2 sister nannies to take care of him; but then Trace would actually have to earn a living besides redoing an occasional kitchen if he had 3 mouths to feed + had to sponsor his wife while she sits in Germany waiting for a marriage visa + presumably has to take his kid to Germany once in a while to visit his mother while she waits.

I LOVE this family - it's all "law and order" when it's brown families coming in and trying to stay illegally but when it's blonde haired blue eyed English speakers - noooooo this is different, this is SOOOOOOO unfair, we're being persecuted.

[AstridM]

6 minutes ago, cereality said:

Well these 2 kids featured above aren't dreamers bc they were born in the US. So they're citizens and more than welcome to stay. If Kelly is soooooo upset that they'd have to leave because their white Christian parents and siblings would have to leave, well why doesn't she take them in until age 18? Does she not need any more cooking and cleaning help as Addie/Ellie will be married and gone in 2-5 years. She could homeschool them just as well as she homeschooled Trace and the rest of her illiterate children. I mean Trace could stay here with Ryker if he had 2 sister nannies to take care of him; but then Trace would actually have to earn a living besides redoing an occasional kitchen if he had 3 mouths to feed + had to sponsor his wife while she sits in Germany waiting for a marriage visa + presumably has to take his kid to Germany once in a while to visit his mother while she waits.

I LOVE this family - it's all "law and order" when it's brown families coming in and trying to stay illegally but when it's blonde haired blue eyed English speakers - noooooo this is different, this is SOOOOOOO unfair, we're being persecuted.

You’re right. It’s Lydia and their older kids who would be “dreamers” (except most Dreamers have attended school and college and contribute to this country). Lots of Dreamers were born here and had their parents deported, though, separating them from their American-born kids.  Actor Diane Guerrero from “Orange is the New Black” is one of them.

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/08/orange-is-the-new-black-season-7-maritza-deported-diane-guerrero-interview#:~:text=“I didn't want to,be taken advantage that way.

 

Edited September 26, 2023 by AstridM

[cereality]

33 minutes ago, AstridM said:

You’re right. It’s Lydia and their older kids who would be “dreamers” (except most Dreamers have attended school and college and contribute to this country). Lots of Dreamers were born here and had their parents deported, though, separating them from their American-born kids.  Actor Diane Guerrero from “Orange is the New Black” is one of them.

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/08/orange-is-the-new-black-season-7-maritza-deported-diane-guerrero-interview#:~:text=“I didn't want to,be taken advantage that way.

 

Exactly. This family is so full of shit. This suddenly is sooooo important bc it affects their inlaws who happen to be white and Christian. There are plenty of dreamers who are allowed to stay here, parents deported, and up until a few years ago they didn't know if they'd ever see their parents again bc you couldn't leave the country on DACA for fear of not being allowed back in [this is somewhat resolved now with travel authorizations - but even then it isn't unheard of for you to be denied a travel authorization to Honduras if you're on Daca, even if your parents are back there]. But by all means let's cry about the utter travesty of a family having to return to GERMANY.

And while I'm a lawyer but not an immigration lawyer, in law the doctrine that applies in lots of analyses is "continuing harm." Ok maybe the US govt believed that you/your kids would be harmed by not being able to homeschool and that was a reason to allow you into the US. Ok great. Uh Lydia is 25 now - and most of her siblings are well past school age. What's the continuing harm now that makes Germany soooo unsafe for this family?

As much as the Bates and their ilk love to scream "send them back" when it comes to brown undocumented people - the reality is you often can't send them back if they are escaping some town where the gangs would kill them or there's no place to go back to in war torn Syria bc their town is now held by an opposing faction that will kill them.

Here - you aren't harming anyone bc the majority of the siblings aren't in school anyway. The 2 who are ages 10-12, well no one is deporting them, they are more than welcome to stay as US citizens - it's up to their parents to figure out the logistics of who'd take them. And no anchor baby Ryker isn't a reason to scream continuing harm - bc that child won't be looking at any type of school situation for 5 years - so it isn't compelling to say well EVENTUALLY we wouldn't be able to homeschool our own kid. The law looks at present harm not any possible future harm. Plus he's a US citizen, as is his dad - you could make plans for him to live here if you wanted. In case these morons haven't noticed, the US government is not in the business of worrying about whether your family stays in tact and gets to live together. But of course that was 100% ok with the Bates when it was brown babies in cages and parents being sent back but gosh their WHITE Christian family HAS to stay together . . . .

Edited September 26, 2023 by cereality

[Heathen]

I wish the deportation would hurry up and happen just so that the hypocrites would shut up and stop whining. This means you, Romeikes and Bateses. Kelly will move on to the next thing -- probably the next wedding or baby -- as soon as the Romeikes are airborne. 

Schadenfreude isn't exactly what I'm feeling now. I don't care enough about them to feel joy. I need a similar word, though -- anybody know where I can find a few German speakers to help me out? 

Edited September 26, 2023 by Heathen
To change a phrase because I'm picky