PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — The U.S. Supreme Court took up a case Monday that could have long-lasting repercussions on the 2016 elections: President Obama's Immigration Action Plan.
The executive action would remove the threat of deportation for undocumented parents of U.S. citizens and permanent residents who have lived in the U.S. for at least five years.
The plan also impacts tens of thousands of people here in Maine.
Sacred Heart in Portland has a big African faith community. Its mass on Sunday mornings features spirited African music.
Many of the attendees are immigrants, and they are all watching what happens with the Supreme Court closely.
"I came over here because my life was in danger," said Alain Nahimana, once a successful businessman and politician in Burundi.
Nahimana came to Maine when he was 40. Guns, violence and death threats forced him to seek asylum in Portland where he now heads up the Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition.
"The size of Portland really was the right fit for me to start a new life," Nahimana said. "In bigger cities, we have no– we are like a drop in the ocean and we don't know where to start from…[here] there [is] a sense of community."
Nahimana is part of a growing population of immigrants in Maine. Last year, in Augusta, they protested Governor LePage's opposition to the Obama's immigration policy.
"I want to protect Maine people," Gov. LePage said. "If you remember 9/11, I think some people came through Maine and they did a lot of damage in New York."
"We've got to be diligent and very on top of this issue…I think the president of the United States has had a very poor record on immigration—it's sad," Gov. LePage said.
Obama's policy would not protect criminals or terrorists, but it could shield more than 4 million people from deportation.
"It's hard to get asylum," says attorney Aga Asbury. "They are all super smart."
Asbury is an immigration attorney in Portland and an immigrant herself, from Poland. She says immigrants are by and large highly educated and hard working, but with one big barrier: language.
"They just don't know English, so they are afraid that they will not understand the question or something and then they will be denied," Asbury said.
Obama's policy would not offer permanent legal status, but it would defer for three years any effort to seek deportation—for those who qualify.