Who are the so-called Dreamers? The Chicago Tribune’s Abel Uribe photographed more than 40 of these young immigrants from 12 countries to better understand who they are.

What he discovered is that recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, consider themselves American in every way. They are engineers, parents, lawyers, chefs, social workers, technology specialists and students.

Illinois has the nation's third-largest population of immigrants covered by DACA, an Obama-era program that the Trump administration wants to "wind down." Congress is divided over whether to create new protections for these young people who, through no fault of their own, arrived in this country illegally as minors.

DACA recipients, commonly called Dreamers, receive two-year work permits, are protected from deportation and are considered low priority for immigration enforcement. About 42,701 people in Illinois have been approved for the program since its 2012 inception.