Deported after 16 years in the United States, Sah, his wife and his son boarded a plane in Salt Lake City for a future they know little about.

"I hope I can come back someday," said the Indian national in an interview late Thursday. "We will try, but we don't know what will happen."

The irony is, if the Sahs had not worked through the immigration system, they could have stayed, like 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country.

Sah said he was bound for Delhi, in northern India, where he has family.

His 12-year-old American born-son, Kanul, who represented Utah in the national spelling bee in May, has never been out of the United States.

The departure was heart-wrenching, said Sah's brother, D.C. Sah.

"They are very sad. They are going to Delhi, but they don't know where they will live or what they will do."

Ken Sah, and his wife, Sarita, leave behind The Ramada Inn and the Budget Inn, both in Green River. For the time being, D.C. Sah, a legal resident, will run the properties.

People in Emery County watched helplessly as the Sahs were deported, said Patsy Stoddard, the editor of the Emery County Progress.

"Everybody is just really upset about it," she said Friday afternoon. "They single out this little Indian family and tell them to go on home."

The Sahs were well liked in the eastern Utah community, she said, and were seen as hard-working people who contributed much to Green River.

"They are just excellent people," Stoddard noted. "They were at the end of their rope. It's just tragic."

Ken Sah entered the United States in 1990 under a student visa to study in Oakland, Calif. In 1991, he applied for political asylum.

Sarita joined him from India in 1992. The couple worked numerous jobs and saved their money, chasing the American dream.

In 1997, the Budget Inn in Green River came up for sale. The Sahs bought it and moved to Utah. They later built The Ramada Inn in Green River.

It wasn't until 2000 that Ken Sah got his first hearing before U.S. immigration officials. He was then quickly denied asylum 31 days short of his 10th anniversary in this country.

If Ken had been on U.S. soil for a full 10 years before the hearing, he could have applied for legal residency on grounds that deportation would be a hardship on his son, an American citizen.

Since then, the Sahs have been in this country legally appealing their case. But last year, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver denied their final petition.

The immigration system isn't fair, said Sah's Salt Lake City-based attorney Steven Lawrence.

"It rewards people who are doing bad and does not reward people who are doing good. It's just madness."

csmart@sltrib.com