An Indian boy whose parents were deported by authorities after living in the US for 16 years will participate in the Scripps National Spelling Bee to be held in May.
Thirteen-year-old Kunal Shah will be representing the state of Utah in the competition, which has been dominated in recent years by kids of Indian-origin.
"It's very tough. He calls everyday and he cries. He needs to live with his parents. But he cannot. We try to make him feel better and stronger," his father, Ken Shah, told The Salt Lake Tribune from New Delhi.
Ken and his wife Sarita legally entered the US in 1990 so he could attend school in California to become an aircraft mechanic, their attorney, Steven Lawrence, said.
Sarita became pregnant with their only child, and they applied for asylum to stay in the US, citing violence in their home province in India, Lawrence said.
Their case, however, did not come up for about 10 years.
By that time, federal immigration officials 'decided the asylum case was no longer valid if valid at all. India had changed after all those years'.
They were deported back to India last July after losing the battle to remain there under tough US immigration regulations in the post-9/11 atmosphere.
Kunal, an eighth grader at Green River High School in Utah and also called 'a walking dictionary' by his friends, was born in the United States and, as such, is a citizen.
For Kunal, it's practically impossible to understand why things are the way they are.
"When I am missing them, I mostly just go to spelling study," he says. "If I knew when they would be able to come back, I would be relieved."
The fact is, nobody knows when his parents will be allowed back in the United States - even for a visit.
