Hitesh Tolani, or Hitu, as his family calls him, always thought he was a typical American guy. Growing up, he was a Boy Scout, student council member, and high school mascot. Hitesh loved eating those fruity pebbles for breakfast, watching TGIF on TV, and playing kickball during recess. The twenty-year-old describes himself as “happy, talkative, and religious” and enjoys the same activities most students do -- traveling, dancing, and spending time with family. Currently he attends Wofford College in South Carolina and dreams of becoming a pediatrician.

Unlike the average college student, however, Hitesh fears for his family’s future. He recently discovered that he is an illegal alien who faces deportation along with his mother -- not “back to India” but “to India,” a country he has never known.

Hitesh was born in Sierra Leone, Africa, in 1982. In January 1984, his parents, Gulab and Jaya Tolani, left Africa and entered the US on a visitor’s visa along with baby Hitesh. Soon afterwards, Gulab’s brother applied on their behalf for permanent residency. However, Mr Tolani’s brother passed away in 1989 while they were waiting for their green card. Then, in 1995, Gulab succumbed to hepatitis B during the Hindu holy holiday of Diwali, one month before the visa paperwork was completed.

The tragic deaths of Gulab and his brother invalidated their petition, rendering Jaya and her elder son illegal aliens. Her younger son Ravi, born in New York in 1987, is a US citizen. Unfortunately, with her husband’s passing, Jaya could not immediately concentrate on their immigration status. She was forced to be both mother and father to her sons and run the family business, a clothing store in Columbia, SC called Looking Good. A year later, Jaya was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent chemotherapy while continuing to manage her business and care for her young sons. She is currently in remission, but the medical bills have financially drained the family.

Hitesh’s mother told him about their illegal status in 1997. He was stunned. Until that point, Hitesh had believed himself to be a US citizen. His parents had always told him he had been born in Chicago, not wanting their son to feel alienated from his peers.

“When my mom was telling me, I was like, ‘Wait, wait, what’s going on?’ and for the first ten minutes I just looked at her like, ‘You are crazy,’ and when she left the room, I felt totally robbed of my identity,” Hitesh recalls. “It would be like someone telling you, ‘Nope, nope, nope, you’re not a guy – you’re a girl.’”

Because he had a social security number and an American education, Hitesh was advised to keep silent and wait for a blanket amnesty program. Believing this concealment to be morally wrong, Hitesh insisted to his mother that they report themselves and beg mercy on humanitarian grounds. When they came forward, the INS started deportation proceedings.
In 2000, Hitesh and his mother appealed to an immigration judge during a six-hour hearing. The judge offered the Tolanis the options of either leaving the US voluntarily or appealing to the Board of Immigration Appeals. The family appealed. For two years, the Board did not act.

Meanwhile, Hitesh graduated Irmo High in Columbia, SC in 2000 with high distinctions in the top 5% of his class. Unfortunately, because of his legal status, he could not use his scholarships to attend Duke or any of the prestigious universities he had been accepted to. Hitesh currently studies computer science at Wofford, a small private liberal arts school that provides him with a full scholarship through private funds. Wofford does not have an engineering program, though, so Hitesh hopes to transfer to Columbia. However, if accepted to Columbia, chances are he will be denied federal financial aid yet again because of his status. Hitesh aspires to go to medical school one day but his current situation could destroy that dream as well.

After the September 11 attacks, the Board began to speed up hearings. Last July, the Board of Immigration Appeals denied Hitesh’s appeal and ordered that he and his mother leave by August 25, 2002. Oddly enough, six weeks after denying Hitesh’s appeal, the Board overruled an immigration judge and allowed the Recinas, a family that was also in the Tolanis’ position, to remain in the US in accordance with a 1996 provision. This provision provides relief for aliens “of good moral character” who have been in the US at least ten years with no criminal record and whose deportation would “result in exceptional and extremely unusual hardship” to a spouse, parent or child who is an American citizen or permanent resident.

After being flooded with hundreds of emails and phone calls from concerned citizens, Senators Strom Thurmond (R-SC) and Fritz Hollings (D-SC) stepped forward to help the Tolanis. Hollings secured a 90-day extension, and Thurmond introduced a private relief bill last September. In October, Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) introduced a similar private bill cosigned by Congressmen Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Henry Brown (R-SC), Jim DeMint (R-SC), and John Spratt (D-SC). Unfortunately, the bills languished, Thurmond left office, and the Tolanis were ordered to leave by March 15, 2003.

Hollings, the senator succeeding Thurmond, introduced his version of the bill in the new session of Congress, while Wilson reintroduced the house bill. These bills offer legislative assistance for the Tolanis, since all legal options have failed. There is a renewed hope for the family but also the new effort of writing and petitioning state officials. The Tolanis are safe as long as the bills remain in Congress, but only the bills’ passage can secure the future of Hitesh and his family. A mere 10% of these types of bills pass.

If deported, Hitesh will be thrust into a world where he is unfamiliar with both language and custom. He has not been to India since his month-long visit as a baby.

“I have always heard of India,” he explains. “I have seen pictures, but to me it’s this far distant planet like Mars. All I know about Mars is that it’s a red planet.”

The Tolanis could be kept out of the US for a decade, since their legal status lapsed more than one year. Deportation would destroy Hitesh’s dreams of studying at an Ivy League school and becoming a pediatrician. Ravi, only a freshman in high school, would be left behind in foster care. Jaya currently suffers from high blood pressure and nightmares of her children being taken away.

While waiting for Congress to decide his future, Hitesh tries to go on with his normal college routine. He is an excellent student and according to his peers, a compassionate, witty, and above all, determined person.

Hitesh has spent the last nineteen years pledging allegiance to the American flag. All he asks is that he and his mother be allowed to remain in America -- their home. The South Carolina Congressional Delegation fully advocates the private relief bills designed to aid the Tolanis, but approval from other states is not guaranteed. Hitesh’s story has been covered mostly in newspapers in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia and has been printed in France and India. College students all over the US have passed around his website link. However, the story has not hit national news. Hitesh asks for assistance from his fellow Americans. His website includes a form letter to send to state officials and/or the media. Phone calls to state officials also can make a tremendous impact. There is strength in numbers. California’s Senator Feinstein is on the Judiciary Committee in the Senate. The bills must go through this committee before even being considered on the Senate floor.

“Some people read the article and tell me, ‘I read your article,’” Hitesh says. “Then I ask, ‘Did you send that form letter?’ and they tell me, ‘No, I assumed so many other people did that it didn’t matter.’ That’s when I sigh and say, ‘If it weren’t for the people who took the time to actually send it, then I wouldn’t be here today. Every single letter counts.’ I have come to learn that there is always hope when the people get involved. Sometimes things are bigger than what you can handle. I need help.”

Hitesh has spent the last nineteen years pledging allegiance to the American flag. All he asks is that he and his mother be allowed to remain in America -- their home. Hitesh expresses thanks to those who have come forward to help his family: “The most amazing thing is when I see people I don’t even know, strangers calling me from all over the country, people writing, random people in Wal-Mart coming up to me and saying, ‘Hey kid, you’re just as American as me,’ or stuff like, ‘If they take you, I’m going with you.’ It’s like wow . . . somewhere, somehow I must have done something right in my life to be so blessed because that’s what being American is all about — one for all and all for one.”

For more details on Hitesh’s deportation, please go to
http://webs.wofford.edu/tolanihg/deportation.htm

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