The DREAM Act, a bill that would have allowed some undocumented youth to gain citizenship down the road, failed in the Senate. Julianne Hing of ColorLines has been following this quite closely. In the end, it was literally a handful of Democrats who prevented the passage of the bill:

"North Carolina’s Kay Hagan, Arkansas’ Mark Pryor, Montana’s Max Baucus and Jon Tester, and Nebraska’s Ben Nelson all voted against ending debate on the bill. Meanwhile, some key Republicans voted for the DREAM Act: Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, Richard Lugar from Indiana and outgoing Sen. Bob Bennett from Utah."

More details on the DREAM Act from Hyphen blogger Winston Chou.

The DREAM Act would have allowed undocumented immigrants with a clean record, who are in the military or college for two years, to be on the path to citizenship. The path is a long one and not even easy, but it was a big hope for many of the DREAM activists, or "DREAMers." (More to come about how the DREAM Act affects Asian American students and youth).