MPR tells the story of Alex, a high school senior who cannot go to college because he is an illegal immigrant.

Like hundreds of thousands of other children, Alex came to the United States as a child. He put down roots in Minnesota, earning a 3.4 GPA at a suburban high school and playing varsity sports.

"I've grown up in the United States just like every other Minnesotan," he wrote last week to U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn.

But when Alex graduated from his suburban high school, he found that he wasn't like every other Minnesotan. His grades and athletic pursuits weren't the same ticket to college they were for his friends.

That's because Alex is an undocumented immigrant. MPR News has agreed not to use Alex's last name because he fears deportation.

"The summer that I graduated from high school, it was very stressful [not] knowing what I was going to do with my life, while all my teammates from the sports I was in, they were all going to colleges," he wrote. "They were all going somewhere in life."

Alex's future in the United States could hinge on the federal Dream Act, a bill that would grant a path to citizenship to up to one million immigrant youths who arrived in the U.S. before age 16, if they complete high school or have a GED and pursue two years of college or military service.

The bipartisan federal legislation, which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has attached as an amendment to a defense bill, could come to a vote this week. Franken and Minnesota's other U.S. senator, Amy Klobuchar, are among its sponsors.

The full story can be found here.