Armed with a worker’s visa, 12 years ago Alyena Bokova and her six-year-old son, Seryozha, moved to America. When her visa expired, she remained in the country and became an undocumented immigrant, where she continued to pay taxes and raised her son as an American.

Seryozha graduated from high school, but was surprised to discover that, unlike many of his classmates, he could not enroll in many respectable colleges, could not get a job, and could not even go into the army. “I am as much of an American as my friends,” Seryozha says. “I want to study and work. I’m prepared to fight for what I consider my country. But, evidently this country does not have a place for people like me.”

Seryozha Bokov is one of the many young residents in the United States whose parents, undocumented immigrants, moved them to America when they were very young. These children go to American schools and, like Seryozha, consider themselves just as American as their classmates. But, having finished school, alas, they find out that by no means are all roads are open to them.

The fate of these children worries many lawmakers. Moreover, the U.S. Senate is already considering a bill that lays a path for the children of undocumented immigrants to become citizens. In particular, they are talking about children who were brought to this country, went to American schools, and are willing to attend American colleges or enter the U.S. Army.

The bill’s author, Senator Richard Durbin (D-Illinois), wants to include his "offspring" as an amendment to the armed forces bill, which the Senate is currently debating.

The bill’s supporters and opponents note that this may be a kind of test: If Congress passes it, the idea of granting "undocumented persons" some rights and an opportunity to legalize their status has not disappeared completely. If Congress is totally opposed to Durbin's proposal, undocumented immigrants can say good bye to hopes for a better future here.

When presenting his plan, Durbin cast aside the traditional trump card of the Democrats – that the American economy needs the labor of the undocumented immigrants – nor did he appeal to their humanism or sympathy. On the contrary, he decided to play up to the conservatives by claiming that this plan will help the army out of its current crisis: young people, including immigrants, are by no means burning with desire to go into the army and end up in the hell of a war without an end in sight.

The bill’s supporters emphasized that it defends the rights of young people who really cannot be considered violators of immigration law since it was their parents who brought them to America.

Nevertheless, conservatives did not take the bait. Steve Elliot, president of the conservative Web site Grassfire.org, informed his readers that Senate Democrats want to deceive the people and “push through” a mass amnesty for undocumented immigrants masked as a "youth" bill.

Around the country, young American men and women, both high school and college students, warmly supported Durbin’s proposal. Groups of young people in many states started to organize so-called "teach-ins," visiting lawmakers’ offices to conduct “enlightening" discussions with them. A group of “undocumented” high school students from California even want to Washington to lobby for the bill. The students dressed in white surgical coats and business suits to emphasize that they could, and would, become doctors and lawyers, if their immigration status did not hinder them.

In a speech before his colleagues, Durbin spoke about young undocumented students who announced that they would gladly go into the army. However, skeptics believe that once they are granted "amnesty," they would rush to colleges and universities and forget about doing valiant military service for the sake of America.

Senator Durbin and his supporters want to remove the barriers blocking these young people whose fate has decreed as “undocumented.” And this initiative is completely defensible. After all, many of these young people are, in essence, real Americans. All they need are the appropriate documents.