Democratic senators hope to revive DREAM Act

Democratic senators reintroduced an immigration bill on Wednesday that may well lack any chance of success.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) led a group of senators in reintroducing the DREAM Act, an immigration bill that would provide a limited path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. by their parents when they were children.

The introduction comes a day after President Obama, traveling Tuesday in Texas, called on Congress -- again -- to pass the DREAM Act.

"We should stop punishing innocent young people for the actions of their parents," Obama said in El Paso. "So we’re going to keep fighting for the DREAM Act. We’re going to keep up the fight for reform."

To wit, Obama's hosted a series of meetings at the White House with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and other influential Latino leaders.

But it's unclear whether Obama is actually serious about passing an immigration bill, or whether he simply wishes to appear serious about immigration reform to Hispanic voters.

What is clear is that the DREAM Act likely lacks the vote to pass through the Senate. During last December's lame-duck session, when the chamber was more heavily Democratic, the legislation fell five votes short of the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster, including five Democrats still in the Senate who opposed the bill.

Even if the legislation were to overcome obstacles in the Senate, it would face even higher odds of passage in the House, which is now in Republican control.

Mexican President Felipe Calderón, who's been a vocal proponent of immigration reform in the U.S., is likely to push for the bill during a meeting with Reid and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in a visit to Capitol Hill on Wednesday.