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Tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants in Middle Tennessee are awaiting an all-or-nothing ruling out of the United States Supreme Court.
Justices will decide as soon as this week on President Obama's proposal to let more undocumented immigrants stay and work legally.
The case started in 2014, when Obama announced authorities would no longer try to deport undocumented immigrants whose children are American citizens.
According to local immigrant rights groups, that describes about 38,000 people living in Middle Tennessee. One is Martha Lugo. She's raised two daughters in Nashville, both born since she overstayed a tourist visa in 1989.
"I saw that this country offers a lot of opportunities for people who really want to work for them," she says. And really, in my hometown, it was becoming a very, very dangerous place to live."
Lugo says the program, known as Deferred Action for Parents of Americans, would mean more security and it could mean a better job. Right now, she works as a cleaner, despite having a degree in accounting.
Nationwide, 4.4 million people could benefit from DAPA and a planned expansion of its companion program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. That's the 2012 program that lets many undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children stay.
But both proposals have been on hold as 26 states, including Tennessee, have sued to stop them. These states say they'll have to spend money to provide undocumented immigrants state services, starting with driver's licenses.
Stephanie Teatro, co-director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, calls the lawsuit politically motivated. She believes if undocumented immigrants like Lugo can come out of the shadows, they'll show they deserve to stay.
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