Press Releases
Long Road to Citizenship Ends for Tolani Family
“It’s like she’s going on her first day of school. She has picked out her outfit and a back-up outfit too, mapped out the way, and has set two alarm clocks. She just called me to say goodnight and to make sure I wake her up just in case the two alarm clocks fail. I asked her if she’s excited and she replied, ‘I just can’t wait to get there!’
At the onset of the Fourth of July weekend, at the birthplace of one of the Declaration of Independence signers, Jaya Tolani became a U.S. citizen.
Her journey that ended July 1 at a swearing in ceremony for immigrants seeking to become U.S. citizens, held at Middleton Place in Charleston, began some 12 years ago when her son, Hitesh, attempted to obtain green cards for himself and his mother. Instead, they got notices of deportation. Hitesh’s Indian-born mother and father had brought their Sierra Leone-born infant to the United States. The family applied for green cards and was approved. But the father died two months before the family’s interview to be admitted as immigrants. The application for immigrant status then was denied because the principal alien had died.
They had come to the United States to open a clothing store in New York. Later they moved to Columbia and opened another store. Hitesh’s brother, Ravi, was born after the family moved to the United States. He, therefore, was a U.S. citizen and not subject to deportation.
Hitesh learned he was not a U.S. citizen when he began applying for student aide about a decade ago. The star Irmo High School student dreamed of a career in medicine. As word of his family’s plight hit the media, Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., offered him a full scholarship. Sen. Fritz Hollings and the late Sen. Strom Thurmond also rallied for Hitesh’s and Jaya’s cause. Sen. Hollings’ office contacted Greenville partner Buzz Burwell for assistance.
Mr. Burwell and Senior Paralegal Kellie Dietz along with a team of attorneys and paralegals worked 20 months in records discovery and documenting the historical and future hardship of the family if deportation were enforced.
“We collected cases and obtained medical and psychological profiles of the family and discovered that the younger brother had chronic and severe asthma. We also determined that if the mother and Hitesh were deported, the younger son would be placed in a foster home and that the mother was ineligible to be employed in India because of the dictates of her caste as it applied to widowers. Further, she had left India more than 20 years earlier, and Hitesh did not speak or write Hindi. So we used the team to document these conditions and entered into yearlong negotiations with the government. They finally stipulated to a cancellation of deportation and allowed the mother and son to stay,” Mr. Burwell said.
With green cards in hand, the wait for citizenship began for Hitesh and Jaya. The law required a five-year waiting period before they could apply for U.S. citizenship. Meanwhile, Hitesh graduated from Wofford and earned his doctoral degree in dentistry from the University of Pennsylvania.
When the pro bono case ended, the Nelson Mullins attorneys and paralegals issued Hitesh a certificate that was an invoice for more than $110,000 and marked “paid in full.” The certificate indicated that Hitesh must “pay it forward,” which he has done through his work with the American Cancer Society and his pro bono dental care to children.
He became a U.S. citizen this spring in Seattle, where he was serving his pediatric dental residency. He now practices in New York and was unable to attend Jaya’s swearing in.
As you will see in her picture she has a “Proud to Vote” sticker on. Apparently you are given the voting registration option immediately before the South Carolina ceremony. I was not given that option in Seattle, and my mom asked me today:
Mom: “Did you register to vote?”
me: No, not yet.
Mom: WHY?
me: Why? What, why? When did you get a chance to register?
Mom: Today! They gave me the option right before the ceremony. Hitesh! It is now your responsibility to vote! You need to make sure you do it! I will keep bugging you until you do!
I never thought I would welcome and relish my mom nagging me about anything, but I think I may drag my feet for a couple of weeks just so I can hear her say: “I’ve registered to vote! -- You need to, too!”
WOW! Unbelievable!
She described a perfect super sunny South Carolina morning with horses and a live marching band playing the Star Spangled Banner. She said she was so excited that she couldn’t sleep the night before and was up at 3 a.m. for the alarm clock to go off at 4. When I called to wake her up, she said, “Good morning, it’s 4:00, I can FINALLY get up!” I don’t think I have ever seen my mom this excited. The best way to describe her was giddy!
ab imo pectore,
Hitesh
