MILWAUKEE - It was exhilarating for Maricela Aguilar to stand on the steps of the federal courthouse here in June and reveal for the first time in public that she is an illegal immigrant.

“It’s all about losing that shame of who you are,” Ms. Aguilar, a college student who was born in Mexico but has lived in the United States since she was 3 years old, said of her “coming out” at a rally.

Those were promising times for thousands of immigrant students who declared their illegal status during a nationwide campaign for a bill in Congress that would have put them on a path to legal residence. Known as the Dream Act, the bill passed the House. Then it was voted down in the Senate.

President Obama insisted in his State of the Union address that he wanted to try again on the bill this year. But even optimists believe its chances are poor before new elections in two years.

That leaves students like her who might have benefited from the bill - and an estimated 1.2 million nationwide - in a legal twilight.

Immigration officials say illegal immigrant students with no criminal record are not among their priorities for deportation. But authorities removed a record number of immigrants last year, nearly 393,000, while the local police are rapidly expanding their role in immigration enforcement. Students often get caught.

“Many have become extremely frustrated, sad, confused and without a lot of answers as to how to move forward,” said Roberto G. Gonzales, a sociologist at the University of Washington who has surveyed young illegal immigrants. “They had a lot of hope that their activities were going to change the minds of the country. Having the door slammed in their face hit many of them really hard.”

A moment of truth, Mr. Gonzales said, comes when the students graduate from college. Many excel academically, but without work authorization, they cannot be legally employed. Some immigrants with bachelor’s degrees end up busing restaurant dishes and cleaning offices, falling back on the jobs of their less educated parents, who often struggled to put them through college.

Ms. Aguilar has not yet had to face the hardest consequences of her status. An honors student in her Milwaukee high school, she was accepted to Marquette, a private Jesuit university, on a full scholarship. Since the Senate vote, she has been working with an immigrant organization in Milwaukee to build new support for the student bill. “It failed and we were all like super bummed out,” she said. “So we came out of there crying, but defiant. ”

That optimism is not shared by Jose Varible, 19, another illegal immigrant from Mexico in the United States since age 9. A student in business management at Gateway Technical College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Mr. Varible also held a coming-out ceremony .

Because he is not eligible for financial aid, he struggles to pay tuition. He cannot drive, since Wisconsin does not issue licenses without proof of legal United States residence. With a knack for technology hardware, he taught himself to repair computers. But without a Social Security number, he cannot get a permanent job .

Combined with his new exposure as an illegal immigrant, he said, those limitations sometimes sink him into depression. He has even considered moving to Australia. “You know, the thing is, I just don’t feel welcome here,” he said. “You cannot live as an undocumented immigrant.”


By JULIA PRESTON