A popular Blue Springs gymnastics coach and his family are being deported this week, despite the fact that he has been in the country legally since 2002. Now, Vardan Sargsyan and his family are forced to deal with a forced exile that they are struggling to understand.

Sagrsyan is a coach at Great American Gymnastic Express in Blue Springs, a gym known for placing girls on the U.S. Olympics Team.

But seven years after he came to the U.S., his attempt to gain citizenship has been denied and he and his family must fly back to Armenia.

"It's a mystery," said Sargsyan. "Because maybe I pay taxes, I'm working very hard, our gymnasts they are national champions."

Sargsyan's 2-year-old daughter was born in the metro area, making her a U.S. citizen, while his 11-year-old just won a Presidential Award for Outstanding Citizen of the Year at her school. It's a cruel irony for Sargsyan and his wife, Anna, who says that all the talk of immigration reform focuses on illegal immigrants, not legal immigrants like her family.

Technically, Sargsyan and has his family have been in the country illegally since March, but they wanted their daughter to finish the school year, which ends tomorrow. On Thursday, they will fly to Armenia, where they will have to stay at least a year before they can apply to return.

"(We) who live here for seven, ten years, who wants to apply for citizenship for a green card, they work hard, they pay taxes," said Anna Sargsyan.

According to Sargsyan's letter of denial from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, his visa was denied because he was not considered essential or critical. In essence, the letter from the DHS says unless you're one of the top coaches in the world, any other American could do the same job.

"I'm not best, but I'm good, very good, talented," said Sargsyan.