Among the 146,000 young people who were brought to New York as children by no fault of their own, it is easy to find hard working students and members of the military who make considerable contributions to our state and to American society at large.

Despite these contributions, though, these young New Yorkers face an onslaught of immigration and civil rights challenges -- just because of where they were born.

The DREAM Act offers new hope for these hard working young people who know no home but America.

DREAM would give young people who were brought to the U.S. as children a pathway to citizenship if they serve in the military or attend college. This bipartisan legislation is currently pending before Congress.

For years Congress has consistently let this important piece of legislation fall by the wayside. But this could be the year that Congress allows this generation of talented and hardworking young people to reach their full potential as American citizens. Last month, President Obama called on Congress to pass the DREAM Act in his first major speech on immigration policy.

Now it is up to constituents to let their representatives in Washington know that they support the DREAM Act and the equality that it will provide to all of America’s children.

The DREAM Act will allow young immigrants to continue to positively contribute to their communities, while earning citizenship to the country that they call home.