In Shadow of Parents' Deportation, Boy Fails to Clear Bee Hurdle

May 30, 2007 — -- Despite clearing one "hurdle" this morning during the preliminary round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, Kunal Sah's score on the written test prevented him from advancing to the quarterfinals.

"H-U-R-D-L-E," the 13-year-old eighth grader spelled confidently from the stage, though his score on the 25-question multiple choice test eliminated him from the next round.

After a year of disappointment following his parents' deportation, Sah's disqualification from the spelling bee likely added one more.

For Sah, the story itself started simply enough: Boy spells. Boy spells well. Boy advances to national spelling bee.

But then the story takes a twist: Boy's parents get deported.

Sah's story suddenly spelled D-E-J-E-C-T-E-D, and as a second-year participant in this year's bee Sah had hoped a win would bring his parents' case into the national spotlight.

Kunal's parents, Ken and Sarita Sah, were deported to India last July after living legally in the United States for 16 years.

The Sah's story starts in 1990. Like so many modern-day immigrants, Sah sailed to this country on the tide of education on a visa to pursue higher studies. When his education entry visa expired, Sah says, on the recommendation of a professor, he sought the counsel of an attorney in California to secure legal status and start working.

Sah says as a newcomer to the states he was unfamiliar with the immigration process and that he just wanted to start working. His attorney filed an application for both the Sahs, who, citing violence in their home province in India, were requesting political asylum. (The New York Times reported that Ken Sah's asylum application stated that he had been active in a group committed to Hindu nationalism and that he could be targeted by Muslims if he returned to India.)

"Within two weeks, I got the work permit and was happy to work here," Sah says in a phone interview from Delhi. "I had finished school and was ready to start surviving."