And the undocumented students are not eligible for any type of government financial aid, said Deneece Huftalin, vice president of student services at Salt Lake Community College.

"I have friends with lower GPAs who were able to get scholarships that I couldn't even apply for," says Claudia.

Donnelson suggested the students would be better off returning to their home country and applying for a student visa or other form of legal re-entry.

Anne says she has already considered that option.

"But it is so hard to get a visa. You need a job, you need property, you need a bank account," she said. In Mexico, she has none of those things.

Under current federal law, she'll be subject to a 10-year bar on re-entering the United States if she lives here illegally for more than a year after turning 18, unless she can qualify for a waiver.

However, in order to qualify for a student visa, she'd need to prove she has ties to Mexico and doesn't intend to immigrate. She'd also have to show financial ability to pay for her education — $24,500 at the U.

"It's very difficult, if not impossible, for these students to go back to their country of origin and attempt to go through the student visa program," said David Doty, assistant commissioner of higher education.

So for now, Anne and Claudia are hoping. Beyond being able to work, Claudia says legal status would allow her to visit cousins back in Mexico that she hasn't seen since she moved here. It would also allow her to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

'Better to be poor'

For now, Claudia asks that her name not be used because of the stigma. Most of her friends don't know her status.

She pauses as she remembers one of her longtime friends saying, "undocumented people don't have any rights, they don't have citizenship, they should be sent home. ... That was really hurtful."

As she recalls her upbringing in a "one-bedroom shack," Claudia wonders if those who stigmatize her realize the reality of situations such as hers.

"It's better to be poor in America," she says. Her mother works as a seamstress, her father in construction, so that she and her sister will "never have to work in a sweat shop."

Claudia remembers little about Mexico, and her younger sister remembers even less, speaking Spanish with an American accent.

Meanwhile, Anne considers herself "both" Mexican and American, but she wants to stay here so she can use her degree to help other immigrants. But she worries about her future if no federal law materializes.

"Then what? Will I work in a factory my whole life?" she wonders. "That's not why I'm going to school."

And every day as she leaves her house she worries. For herself and her family.

"I really like this place," she says. "But the issues going on. ... It's really scary. Every day I pray nothing will happen to us."

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E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com; estewart@desnews.com