To help illustrate his point, Durbin showed photos of three young adults who would be affected by the bill. The three students — Marie Gonzalez, a 21-year-old Costa Rican college student whose parents have been deported, Tam Tran, a 24-year old Vietnamese graduate student who came to America from Germany, and Manuel Bartsch, a college sophomore from Germany — watched from the Senate visitor's gallery.

But their presence was also a symbol of the tension that still exists over immigration issues. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., sent out a statement Tuesday calling for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to "detain any illegal aliens" who were attending a news conference Durbin held with the three students on Tuesday.

"If we can't enforce our laws inside the building where American laws are made, where can we enforce them?," Tancredo said.

Durbin said on the floor Wednesday that the students were lawfully in the United States on a temporary basis, and the Dream Act would help them remain permanently.

"His press release is an indication of how badly this debate is going in America," Durbin said. "To turn on these children and treat them as criminals is an indication of the level of emotion and in some cases bigotry and hatred that is involved in this debate."

Durbin acknowledged that with Congress focused on finishing its annual spending bills before leaving for the year, he is not likely to bring the measure up again this year or next.

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E-mail: suzanne@desnews.com