Reform advocates from United We Dream, the largest youth-led immigrant group, commemorated the anniversary in Washington, D.C.

“Being able to get a driver’s license and a work permit allowed me to travel to Arizona this week and finally see and touch my mother after six long years.   I am proud of the progress our movement has made and the incredible victory of deferred action,” Florida Dreamer Evelyn Rivera says.

RELATED: A year after Deferred Action, Dreamers change their lives and the immigration debate

Gang of Eight member Senator Robert Menendez joined New Jersey Dreamers used the one year mark of DACA to call for passage of the comprehensive immigration reform bill. He said that the spirit of the Dream Act lives on in the legislation currently being debated by the Senate.

“It’s in the economic interest of the United States to harness and develop the talent that all of our young people have to offer. The time has come to allow thousands of young men and women who are kept from enrolling at colleges and universities to finally achieve their full potential, to be participants in American life,” he said. “That’s what the DREAM Act has always been about and that’s what immigration reform is about.”

Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez, released a statement commending the implementation of DACA, saying it has since allowed him to hire two Dreamers as legislative aides in his office.

“DACA recipients and DREAMers are fighting at my side and alongside the broader pro-immigrant movement to stop the deportations of their mothers, brothers, and neighbors and they are forceful and persistent and fearless,” Gutierrez said. “The President has immense powers under current law to protect DREAMers, to protect spouses and parents in military families, and to remove the fear of deportation from U.S. citizens whose parents we deport in the tens of thousands.

Still, the Illinois Congressman emphasized that DACA was not the end of reform for immigrant youths. He hinted that the President should end deportations of Dreamers’ families too.

“When you meet and talk with DACA recipients and other DREAMers… it is crystal clear that the future of our nation is in very good hands, unless we do something stupid like break up their families or deport them,” Sen. Gutierrez said. “The President has immense powers under current law to protect DREAMers, to protect spouses and parents in military families, and to remove the fear of deportation from U.S. citizens whose parents we deport in the tens of thousands.”

RELATED: Outrage over House amendment to deport Dreamers, stricter Senate immigration measures

However, in the year since DACA was enacted, the program has seen significant opposition from Republicans. Iowa Republican Congressman Steve King introduced an amendment last week to reverse DACA; it was passed 224-201 last Thursday, though it is not expected to become law.

Since President Obama announced the new policy one year ago, an estimated 500,000 young immigrants have applied. According to Menendez’s office, more than 497,965 applications have been approved.

When he was a young boy, Aguiluz was in a car crash in his native Honduras. He was so impressed by the care that the nurses gave him that since that very moment he dreamed of one day becoming a nurse himself. But his status as an undocumented immigrant stopped him short of pursuing a career in nursing. All of that changed on June 15, 2012.

Aguiluz is one of 291,000 immigrants who are temporarily safe from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) that President Obama announced last June. The program allows undocumented people brought to the country at a young age to get a social security number, driver’s license, and work permit.

As the program reaches its one-year anniversary this Saturday, Aguiluz doesn’t hesitate to explain how much his life has changed.

“I had graduated with my Associates Degree in nursing in December 2011, but I couldn’t continue because of my status. I couldn’t get a work permit and I couldn’t afford to continue my education,” he recalls.

Aguiluz, who was fifteen years old when he first came to the United States, instead found himself doing electrical work. Once President Obama announced DACA, Aguiluz could follow his dreams without fears of deportation.

Making the personal political 

As the Senate officially began its debate on comprehensive immigration reform this week, both Dreamers and political scientists alike agree that young immigrants like Aguiluz  have been instrumental in bringing the issue to the forefront.

Gabriel Sanchez, Director of Research for Latino Decisions and political scientist at the University of New Mexico, says that DACA gave the comprehensive immigration reform bill the momentum to get to the Senate one year later.

“What the Dreamers have really done is get a major policy victory that folks pushing for reform really needed. It’s a powerful element,” he says.

A key role of the increasingly vocal young immigrants has been  making the personal political in a whole new way. The Dreamers have put some of the most intimate moments of their lives out on display for the public to see.

Political scientist Cristina Beltrán, associate professor of social and cultural analysis and the director of Latino Studies at New York University, says Dreamers have single-handedly changed the narrative around immigration.

“One of the most exciting aspects of the immigration debate has been the role that immigrants themselves are playing in shaping the debate. We didn’t see that back in 06 and other times where immigration was debated,” says Beltrán, who has written a book on Latino politics. “Dreamers have been a critical component of that and changed the way reform looks.”

RELATED: Dreamers come of age: a bolder, more inclusive agenda

Earlier this week, a group of undocumented immigrants videotaped and invited the press to an emotional border reunion between deported mothers and their children. On Thursday, a group of Dreamers headed to Capitol Hill in graduation gowns, attempting to speak to members of Congress and push reform.

But Myrna Orozco, a 23-year-old undocumented immigrant who came to the United States from Mexico when she was four years old, says it hasn’t always been easy to have her personal life take center stage.

‘”It was scary to come out and say ‘yeah I’m undocumented’ to the entire world,” she recalls. “But it’s so empowering when I see Dreamers younger than me do the same thing. It shows how far we’ve come.”

Orozco, who is also the field manager of the largest immigrant youth led organization in the country, United We Dream, believes that their tactics have thus far been successful.

“Our role is one of finding and changing the narrative of how people view immigrants. We want to show America what real immigration reform looks like,” Orozco says. “Coming together to share our stories was something that people told us wasn’t possible- that we could not do it. But we turned around and we did it.”

According to Sanchez, Dreamers have put a face to what used to be an abstract debate.

“They have put a very human element to this whole policy debate. They symbolize that they’re young people and didn’t consciously choose to enter the country illegally,” he explains.

Making demands 

Dreamers, says NYU’s Beltrán, are unlike other mainstream immigrant groups in one way: challenging politicians.

“The fact that they were willing to confront President Obama about this the summer before an election, that is pretty crucial,” she says.

Since the election, Dreamers have continued pressure on both Congress and the White House alike. Dozens of Dreamers visited the White House last week to call for a pathway of return for deported family members. Earlier this week United We Dream took to Capitol Hill and paid visits to Speaker Boehner and Rep. Steve King’s office in graduation cap and gowns.

RELATED: Rep. Steve King tweets “brazen illegal aliens” invaded his office

Julieta Garibay, legislative affairs associate with United We Dream, says that many immigrants are not willing to push politicians who have already supported them.

“So many times people say ‘the president did this for us, we should just be greatful,’ But in reality dreamers are still being deported,” she says. “Senator Rubio is Latino and part of the Gang of Eight, but one day he says hes going to support the bill, another day he says he’s not. We’re willing to call him out and ask him to stop flip flopping.”

RELATED: Does Marco Rubio support his own immigration bill

New challenges

As the Gang of Eight bill is debated on the Senate floor, the challenge for Dreamers is to stay as involved, says Beltrán.

“Once a social movement moves into the legislative phase, you’re dealing with representatives speaking on everybody else’s behalf,” she explains.

If immigration legislation fails and the deferred action program is cancelled by the next president, Dreamers could once again face deportation. Deferred action has already faced opposition from some House Republicans. Iowa Republican Congressman Steve King introduced an amendment last week to strip DACA; it was passed 224-201 last Thursday, though it is not expected to become law.

Still, Dreamers like Aguiluz are hopeful that they will be able to stay in the country- this time permanently.

“I am worried about it, but I have high hopes that immigration reform will pass and that we can finally have the stability of actually knowing we can stay,” he says.

“The Senate’s bipartisan legislation is really a historic step, but should not exclude the littlest Dreamers,” added Senator Blumenthal.

Immigration reform advocates praise the Dreamer component of the current Senate immigration reform bill, which allows “DREAMers” over the age of 16 who came here as children, have earned a high school diploma or GED and either serve in the military or attend college for at least 2 years to have a “fast track” to legal permanent residency after 5 years instead of 10 years for other undocumented immigrants.

Under the current bill, explained Senator Blumenthal in a conference call today, the children “would almost certainly be forced to wait 13 years for a pathway to earned citizenship – though they were brought here through no fault of their own,” he said, putting them in the same position as their older Dreamer brothers and sisters.

United We Dream‘s Lorella Praeli said Blumenthal’s amendment would address the children who, five years after the law is enacted, would still not be 18 years old , so they could not complete the requirement of higher education or a military component, Praeli explained.

Blumenthal also submitted 17 other amendments to the immigration bill, including a proposal to crack down on the use of solitary confinement at immigration detention centers. “Every day in this country more than 300 immigrant detainees are held in solitary confinement, and nearly half will remain there long enough to pose a risk of permanent psychological damage,” the Connecticut senator says in his website.  Another amendment makes human trafficking a “Part I violent crime” and gives officers more training to identify victims and more resources to deter trafficking. This amendment was accepted and will be included in the bill.

While the Senate debates the immigration bill, a group today called on President Obama to issue a directive to stop deporting people who would qualify to stay in the country if the bill becomes law.  ”By the end of the day 1100 people will be taken away from their families — and they are not gang bangers like President Obama described them,”  said Pablo Alvarado, of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON).

Yvette Martinez, a U.S. citizen, said in a press call today that her husband Roger Tabora Martinez, an undocumented immigrant with no criminal record, was deported last week. Groups like MALDEF, AFL-CIO and NDLON argue that deportations for those who have not committed serious criminal offenses are still taking place.  ”We are asking the president to exercise discretion and cease deportations for those who qualify under the proposal of the Group of 8,” said MALDEF president and CEO Thomas Saenz.

RELATED: With 300 amendments, advocates brace for tough start to Senate immigration hearings

“At that point I remember thinking, we are a progressive state. If we lose pro-immigrant legislation, what message are we sending? We cannot accept it,” recalls Torres. “So our organization took the lead.”

Casa de Maryland helped spearhead state support, and Maryland joined 13 other states in creating its own Dream Act.  In the absence of federal legislation, and because higher education policies are done at the state level, states such as Maryland are allowing their undocumented students to pay in-state tuition, arguing it does not impose a fiscal strain and in fact helps build wealth in the long run through a more educated workforce.

“Studies have shown these measures have helped state revenues, because the alternative would have been that these young people would not have pursued higher education at all, since it would have been too costly,” says Tanya Broder, senior attorney at the National Immigration Law Center. Moreover, Broder says, the benefits are not just economic. “Studies have also shown tuition equity for undocumented students infused hope in high school students, who performed better, and this applied to Latino students across the board,” Broder explains.

And though Maryland’s version has strict requirements — it insists Dreamers finish two years of community college before applying to a 4-year institution — it is nevertheless a victory for students like Claudia Quiñonez.

“My mother told me there was no way I could have gone to college without it,” says the Maryland Dreamer, saying that many immigrant parents make less than the yearly cost of out-of-state tuition, which is around $27,000 dollars.

RELATED: Growing number of states grant lower tuition rates for undocumented students 

Maryland is the only state which enacted in-state tuition not through lawmakers’ votes, but through its residents, once opponents put it on the ballot last November. Though only 4 percent of Maryland voters are Latino, almost six out of ten voters marked “yes” on their ballots for Maryland’s “Dream Act.”

The way Latino groups in Maryland rallied different groups to champion higher education for undocumented students is an effective lesson in forging political alliances, says University of Maryland political scientist Stella Rouse.

“Their message was, we are not making this a referendum on comprehensive immigration reform,” explains Rouse. “They made it about young people who have been in the state of Maryland most of their lives, and they stressed the economic benefits,” she says.

Casa de Maryland’s Gustavo Torres explains that the most effective group were the Dreamers themselves, who knocked on residents’ doors and put a face on the issue.

“I told them about myself,” says Dreamer Veronica Saravia, whose family immigrated from El Salvador when she was 10. “I told them about my AP classes and how I passed all the tests, that I was in the drama club and loved acting, and that I wanted to study to be a nurse or psychologist so I could give back,” says Saravia, who graduated high school last year. “That touched people.”

In addition to the role of Dreamers, Latino groups and immigrant groups forged effective coalitions with African-American leaders and churches, as well the state’s teachers, who became staunch advocates of the state-sponsored Dream Act.

RELATED: Maryland approves DREAM Act

While Maryland is a pretty immigrant-friendly state, the reality is that other coalitions have been forged in less progressive states. In fact, the first state to enact in-state tuition as well as financial aid for undocumented students was Texas, in 2001.

H. Kenny Nienhusser and Blanca E. Vega, who have extensively researched the Texas “Dream Act,” say several factors played a key role.  Apart from the support of Governor Rick Perry and previous Governor George W. Bush, “Latino representation at the legislative and Mayoral level in Texas was a key factor,” Nienhusser explains.  In addition, groups as diverse as Latino nurses, Texas higher education administrators, the Texas Catholic conference and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, teamed up with local Chambers of Commerce and the state’s African American caucus.

On an issue such as the Dream Act, “educating populations which have been pitted against each other in the past is very important,” says Vega.

In some states, the push for in-state tuition has been long.   Oregon became the latest state to approve in-state tuition – and organizers said it took ten years.

Many of these successful state coalitions, which have helped put immigrant issues in the forefront of their local communities, have evolved into vehicles for national mobilization on immigration reform and the Dream Act.  The Casa de Maryland organizers, who took the lead on the state’s version of the Dream Act, were one of the main organizers in the national immigration rally held last week in the nation’s capital.

“Together we educate, rally, pray and knock on doors until a comprehensive immigration reform bill arrives at the desk of President Obama,” said Casa de Maryland’s  Gustavo Torres to the thousands assembled in the rally. “You are the movement that will win immigration reform.”

“I started getting more and more active around immigration reform because this was such a waste of lives, such a waste of potential, such a waste for our country not to have the human capital that we developed – geared towards improving our entire society,” said Powell Jobs in an exclusive interview with Rock Center Anchor Brian Williams airing Friday, April 12 at 10pm/9CDT on NBC.

While Powell Jobs is focused and committed to her goal of getting immigration legislation passed, the intensely private Powell Jobs also addressed her husband’s legacy.

“His private legacy with me and the kids is that of husband and father, and we miss him every day,” said Powell Jobs of the late Apple co-founder.

Powell Jobs is leaving her own mark on the immigration debate. She and filmmaker Davis Guggenheim recently teamed up to promote immigration reform through the film “The Dream Is Now.” They both appeared on Capitol Hill this week showcasing the film to members of Congress.

Read the rest of the story here. 

But months later, many immigrants are having vastly different reactions to the change depending on where they live, and they aren’t flocking to the program at the levels the government originally expected.

A handful of Republican-led states are blocking basic benefits for those in the program, denying beneficiaries identification cards, driver’s licenses, health care, in-state tuition, student financial aid, college admission or other privileges typically afforded to legal residents.

Others have set out welcome signs for the immigrants, including 12 that grant resident tuition for immigrants who graduated from local high schools.

The number of immigrants who signed up for the program has been smaller than envisioned.

RELATED: Deferred actioners will get driver’s licenses in California

In the first eight months of the program, about 450,000 applications have been accepted. The government originally estimated that 1 million would enroll in the first year. Experts say the numbers have been surprisingly low in states with large immigrant populations like Florida, New Jersey and Arizona, where about 16,000 people have taken advantage of the program.

Enrolling in a college or a university – a cornerstone of the new policy – hasn’t been easy either. With many states refusing to grant in-state tuition, immigrants who largely come from working-class families have to shell out upward of $40,000 a year to go to school – with no financial aid.

“It’s really hard that now you have all these doors that you feel are going to be open to you and the doors are still closed,” said Reyna Avila, a Phoenix college student who received a work permit and Social Security card under the policy, but still cannot drive to work or school without risking criminal charges.

RELATED: 10 tips from a lawyer on filing a successful deferred action application

In Michigan, high school senior Javier Contreras and his family considered moving to Illinois until his state came up with a solution allowing him to get a driver’s license. But because of his immigration status, he will have to pay the $20,000 for out-of-state tuition if he wants to attend his dream school, the University of Michigan.

Under the so-called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, more than 1 million immigrants are eligible for work permits good for two years with no limits on how many times they can be renewed. Qualified applicants must be 30 or younger, prove they arrived in the U.S. before they turned 16, have been living in the country at least five years and are in school or graduated or served in the military.

Immigrant advocates embraced the program when it was announced in June as a long-awaited, albeit temporary fix for young immigrants, many of whom were brought here as young children and grew up in America. Congress has failed for years to create a similar law in the form of the DREAM Act, so Obama bypassed the legislative process and implemented the change under the Department of Homeland Security.

RELATED: Arizona debates driver’s licenses for immigrants

Republican critics note the Obama policy was passed only after Congress failed multiple times to pass the DREAM Act and could soon be found unconstitutional in court because it extends legal rights to people who are not legally in the country.

“The Obama amnesty plan doesn’t make them legally here,” Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said shortly after the program was unveiled.

The creation of the program set off a flurry of activity in statehouses, governor’s offices and in the courts, giving young immigrants different impressions of the policy from state to state.

In Alabama, Florida, Idaho and dozens of other states, the young immigrants don’t qualify for resident tuition or financial aid. South Carolina and Georgia won’t let the students apply for admission to some public universities.

Republican leaders in Arizona and Nebraska refuse to grant the young people driver’s licenses, though the vast majority of states allow those in the program to legally drive. In North Carolina, lawmakers briefly considered issuing licenses with bright pink stripes and the words “NO LAWFUL STATUS” on them. Until last month, immigrants benefiting from the policy couldn’t get a state identification card in Michigan.

Some states have mixed policies, making it even more confusing for young people struggling to understand their new legal status. For example, in Arizona, some community colleges consider the immigrants lawful residents, but the state’s public university system does not.

In some cases, the change has added to the climate of fear that is present in many communities. A complaint was filed with a Phoenix community college system this week alleging that staff members were asking students about their parents’ immigration status.

A few states have embraced the immigrants. In Washington, the House of Representatives recently approved a measure making young immigrants eligible for state college financial aid. In Massachusetts, Gov. Deval Patrick announced in November that some children of immigrants living in the country illegally could attend public state colleges and universities at the in-state tuition rate, cutting costs by 50 percent or more.

Avila was reminded of what she was missing out on as an Arizona resident when she recently visited an aunt in Illinois who was able to obtain her driver’s license because of the Obama policy.

“She was showing it off to the family and it was like a slap in the face to me,” Avila recalled.

The lack of uniformity means young immigrants who move often for work or school experience shifting benefits.

Lucy Pinon is able to get a driver’s license in Idaho, where she attends college, but she can’t obtain an identification card in Arizona, where she has lived with her family since she was six years old. That means a relative has had to go with her and confirm that she is an Arizona resident when she applies for local jobs, she said.

“It’s like, `Oh you’re documented, but you are still undocumented,’” she said. “When I’m in Idaho things are fine and dandy, but Arizona is my home state.”

Civil rights advocates argue it’s unconstitutional under the federal equal protection clause for states to extend benefits to some immigrants with work permits but not others. They have challenged the Arizona ban on driver’s licenses in what is the first major legal battle over the policy change.

“The federal government without question gets to decide who is allowed to be in the country or not,” said Michael Tan, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants’ Rights Project. “It’s not up to the states to make up their own rules.”

“My first memory of being a person is loving a song by Dire Straits,” says lead singer and guitar player Enrique Chi while touring with the band in Puerto Rico. “I was in Panama City, and I heard a piece of the song “The Walk of Life” in an ad, and I cried because they never played the end.”

As an ode to the power Dire Straits had on him, Chi named his band after another one of their songs, “Making Movies.”

“What I love about music is its ability to become a fabric,” says Chi about how a song could take him back to when he was 2, and what he was smelling at the time. “I was in Panama a while ago, and my grandmother loves Hank Williams, and I could see it on  her face — it like pulled up a file. I can only think of very few things in life that could do that — connect to your soul I guess.”

He says his guitar-playing dad was also an inspiration to him.

“My brother Diego plays bass in the group,” says Chi, 29. “We grew up watching [our dad] play…We loved classic rock — The Beatles, Peter Gabriel, and my mom likes Latino music like merengue and cumbia. It took a lot for me to figure out how to mix it — we’re bicultural people — our rhythms are the pulse to our heritage. It made sense to combine them. We were able to make a music that is powerful and unique.”

He says his parents moved to Kansas City with plans to study and go back to Panama, but they stayed.

“We were the only Latinos,” says Chi about growing up in Kansas City. “Once I became an adult, I realized in the city there’s a pretty big Latino community.”

In 2009, he says he and his brother kicked around the idea of starting a band.

“We met Juan Carlos, a percussionist who was able to give us the Afro-Caribbean sound, and we instantly hit the road in a van and started booking shows wherever we could,” says Chi. “It kind of all came after that…”

Juan Carlos Chaurand says he grew up in a very Latino neighborhood in Kansas City, unlike Chi.

 “I grew up among Mexican families, and my family actually owns a Mexican restaurant,” says the Mexican-American percussionist. “My mom directs a Mexican folk group, and I grew up dancing, and I help teach.”

He says for him, it was pretty easy to maintain his culture while simultaneously blending others into a harmonious melody.

“When I was 12, there was a band in Kansas City — a Latin band trio, who wanted to do more Caribbean music, and they invited my dad to play. He said I’m too old for this — take my son. I got into playing the timbales… Around 13, I got into salsa. So since then, it’s taken over my musical influences. The rhythms have captured me.”

A few years ago, he met the Chi brothers at a salsa club, and they invited him to jam. Now 26, he plays the congas, timbales and the keyboard in Making Movies.

“They have grown to be my brothers,” says Chaurand about the band. “It’s taken over and I couldn’t be happier. I’m excited to see where this journey takes us.”

Their new album, “A La Deriva,” although upbeat sounding, takes you on a serious path if you listen closely.

“It is based on a couple of things that happened around my life,” says Chi. “We do some work with kids are at risk with domestic violence or school problems, and one of the songs ‘Estaba buscando’ is about one of the young women I met there who has gone through abuse — she’s 13 and gets pregnant by some other kid. It affected me.”

He explains if you’re not careful, your life can develop a dangerous cycle, and he wanted to bring attention to that.

“As a man, the decisions you make…your kids are affected by it,” says Chi. “The record has a couple of characters in it — the younger person is basically me. The last two songs I talk about wanting to go a different way — that’s the aim of the record.”

The group has actively supported the DREAM Act since 2010, and has co-founded a music camp for underprivileged kids in Kansas City called M.U.S.I.C.A. (Musicians United by Social Influence and Cultural Awareness) last year.

“Mattie Rhodes — a non-profit we partnered with — lent us a space for a week, and we were able to run it with volunteers, and a bunch of instruments were lent to us from a university,” says Chi about the one-week program in August, which they hope to repeat annually. “There were 25 kids the first year.”

He says through music, people are able to unite, because there’s always a common ground.

“I just want people to listen,” says Chi. “In this disposable lifestyle, I hope people take the time to digest it. I feel like it’s worth it — we put in the effort.”