few thought possible. miami, florida from al jazeera. >> reporter: and before we go let me -- i remind you you can keep up to date with the news on our website and you will find that at al jazeera.com and take a look, it is good to have you here. treem streemen stream." young people now dare to dream whether it comes to immigration reform. they grew up hiding in plain sight. a diverse group of young people who say they feel invisible whenever immigration policy comes up for discussion. roughly 27% of the estimated 11 million unauthorized immigrants living in the u.s. came from

countries to the north, east, and west. among them, young people, eager for immigration reform and passage of the dream act. legislation that would create a pathway to citizenship for undocumented youth brought to the u.s. as children. but the group we're talking about and with today feels left out of the immigration conversation because of their ethnicity. >> i believe that a lot of people think it's just a lat tino issue and mexican issue. i'm proof it's not. when you have all these people from asia, from europe and from africa as well, it's a global issue that affects all of us. >> members of this group of diverse dreamers are stepping out of the margins and mainstream to lend their faces and voices to the debate. our digital producer is juggling all the live feedback. this is an issue our community asked us to recover. they say it focuses too narrowly on one group.

>> i love "the stream" because it's a community-driven show. this is julio on the screen who said we have to give a shout-out to fanima90 who pitched this story to us and tonight it's the show. of course, a lot of opinions. dena says we need to promote a multiculture society and not just a biculture one. u.s. immigration reform neglects many immigrants, and it's latino news. most media things demonize or evangelize the crime. the viewer at home are part of the stream team. as always join our conversation today by using the #ajstream. >> they have lived at undocumented immigrants at various points. they're all in good standing with the government now as part of a program to provide deportation relief to young people. here with us in studio is kamal.

he came to america when he was 11 and works as an attorney. in our google plus hangout is kevin lee. his parents emigrated from south korea in 1999. aldon nesbit co-chairs the international youth association. his mother was recruited to teach in new york when he was just 12. tina is a college student that traveled to the u.s. as a toddler when her dad was granted a business visa. welcome to "the stream." who are the dreamers? >> the dreamers are named after the dream act, which is a historically bipartisan legislation introduced first in 2001, and it's been introduced at every congressional session since. what it's meant to traes is a situation of undocumented youth. these are people who have come here at a young age who are american in essentially every way except for the paperwork. as they live their lives here, they face the struggles of not

having the paperwork, of being able to access education and getting a driver's license and being able to work. so the point of the dream act and the struggle of the dreamers is the struggle about inte grating to american society. they fwaif them a pathway to citizenship so they have a path way to work, but provide them with access education, access loans and state tuition, that sort of thing. >> we were talking earlier. everybody on the show tonight has an incredible story, and we want to make sure we get to that. we want to do it right away. kevin, tell us a little bit about your story, how you became undocumented. >> hi. thanks for having me again. >> yeah. >> i came here to the u.s. when i was 9 years old from south korea. there was a severe economic crisis back then, and my parents made a very deep leap of faith moving to this country.

when we first got here, it was a struggle, like most immigrant families, and i knew when i was growing up that i was undocumented because my parents would go out to work, and before they'd leave they would tell me, kevin, you know, lock the doors, and when somebody knocks, look through the back window and see if it's the law enforcement. they could take you away. my mother used to tell me always, you know, don't tell your best friends, your neighbors, anybody that you know about your status, because, you know, you can be taken away from us. >> what kind of stress did that cause for you as a little kid? >> looking back, i think it was a tremendous sense of fear knowing that you could always be deported. knowing that your parents could also be gone. this is sort of the struggle of

so many immigrant youth and people, is that they have this looming fear behind the back of their heads that they could always be deported, even though they fully want to contribute to this society. going on with my story, it became really difficult because i would pledge of allegiance the flag every day, thinking of myself as truly american. when i came of age, when i was in high school, i knew that i was different. i couldn't get a driver's license. i couldn't get a work permit. at the end of my high school year, i knew that i can't, you know -- i thought i couldn't apply for colleges and universities and aspire for higher education. >> kevin, i'm going to bring in some community right here. ali says i fwgrew up an

undocumented friend. their life was put on hold after high school. mark says undocumented immigrants have to deal with college applications and part-time jobs in high school and fear of getting pulled over could lead to deportation by i.c.e. alden, talk to us about having to live with a perpetual escape plan. >> i live in new york and look in brooklyn where you have to live in a state of that. a cop can look at me and stop me just because of the color of my skin or because they assume that i'm going to commit a crime because i look african-american. unfortunately, because i'm not african-american and i'm undocumented, what they can now do is report that to i.c.e. and tell i.c.e. we do not have identification, and i can be detained or deported just for not having identification in

new york city. >> alden, i want to get to how you got here in the first place. the u.s. government asked your mom to come here and teach in some of the most trying schools in new york city, right? >> right. >> what was she told? what was she promised? >> the department of education in 2001, they went all the way to the caribbean to get the best and brightest teachers to teach in some of the hardest-staffed schools in new york city. my mother taught special education for 22 years, and you know, they told her that she was going to get a bunch of things. one of the things that we all expected to eventually get was green cards and have a pathway to citizenship. up until june 21 i actually expected to become a citizen. when i turned that and my mom didn't have a green card, i aged out. >> president obama used his executive authority to provide

temporary relief for folks called alden facing deportation. it's called daca. that allows young people to work legal legally. they think 1.4 are eligible for it. program. tell us how it affected your life. >> well, when i was in high school, i couldn't drive, and i had to take the city bus to go to school. during the time my family was hit with a flood. so we had no government help, and we lost everything. so after i received daca, i was able to work, able to drive. it gave me an identity. most people think you can travel by air, but whether when you turn 18, you can't do that unless you have a legal i.d.

i was able to use that i.d. and travel throughout the world or throughout america, and it was organized for the dream act and work to pay for school and drive so i didn't have to take the city bus every morning. >> we should mention that you came here as a toddler with your dad. his business visa, right? >> i did. he was a medical professional. he used to make interocular lenses, and he want to expand and wanted the american dream and to be the entrepreneur. originally we moved to florida, and he decided to expand his business. it obviously didn't work out, and he was denied renewal. that's when i became undocumented. >> daca is seen as a stop-gap measure. dreamers say it's not enough. the president agrees. >> precisely because this is temporary, congress needs to act. there's still time for congress to past the dream act this year because these kids deserve to plan their lives in more than

two-year increments. we still need to pass comprehensive immigration reform that addresses our 21st century economic and security needs. >> so what should be done to address these issues within the nation's immigration system, and should people like kevin and alden and tina have an expea dated path to sit

but should you be made aware if you are consuming them. that's next on "consider this."

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