She feels stuck. Everything is complicated because she is undocumented -- finding an apartment, a good job, securing loans for school.

Ana currently works at a jewelry kiosk in Atlanta.

If immigration reform were to become a reality, she says she'd like to study psychology and find a better paying job so as not to be a burden to her parents. She'd also like to go to Mexico to visit relatives she hasn't seen since she was a little girl.

"If they want to make it a little strict, that's OK ... so they don't think they're giving it to us," Ana says.

Prerna Lal, 28: It's not just Latinos

Many Americans connect the immigration issue to Latinos, but it's broader than that, says Lal. She came to the United States from the Pacific island of Fiji when she was just 14. Now, she's fighting a legal battle in court to avoid deportation.

"I don't think it's a bad thing to really focus on this amazingly powerful voting bloc," she says. "I do think that people need to look at immigration from a lens that shifts from just 'those Mexicans just coming across the border' to the many people from Asia and from Europe who are still stuck in the system."

The government should stop deporting people, she says, and focus on fixing a broken system that leaves many people in limbo even when they follow the rules.

"Everyone talks about going to the back of the line being the number one thing that undocumented immigrants should do. I have been in several different lines. ... The issue is there are so many undocumented immigrants that are caught up in lines that never really go anywhere," she says.

Lal is a third-year law student at George Washington University. No matter what happens with the latest reform efforts, she plans to become an immigration lawyer.

Tania, 43: Citizenship means everything

Tania's family is a hodgepodge of legal statuses. She and her husband are undocumented, as are their two oldest children. Their younger four were born in the United States and are citizens.

"For my family, it would be the best," she says about immigration reform. She wants a change that would lead to citizenship.

"For my husband, it would mean a good job where he wouldn't be abused by bosses. And for my children, it would mean they could continue their studies," she says.

Her husband works at a recycling plant. She is from Ecuador. Tania spoke at an immigrant rights organization in Queens, N.Y.

Vasant Shetty, 59: Hope and hard work

In India, Shetty says he never could have imagined starting his own business or sending his two children to college. In the United States, he has done both of those things. On Monday, Shetty was answering phones at the front desk of his motel in central Arizona. When he bought it, he said the property was in shambles. He then renovated it into a place he's proud to own.

"I came to this country with lots of hope, almost 15 years ago. It was very hard," he says. "Today I have two motels. I never used any shortcuts. It was all hard work, all the time."

As President Barack Obama prepared to deliver an immigration reform speech in Nevada on Tuesday, Shetty braced himself to appear in an Arizona immigration court. There, a judge may decide whether he should be deported.

Immigrant rights activists have asked federal officials to drop their case against him, arguing that deporting him would unjustly separate his family and unfairly punish someone with no criminal history.

Despite his personal battles with the U.S. immigration system, talk about immigration reform makes Shetty feel optimistic. Time and time again, he says, America has shown him kindness and opportunity.

"I believe this country has a lot of good people," he says. "There is a way. They will do something good."

Mario, 33: Faith and fear

Mario lives in constant fear of being picked up by the police.

"Just to come here, I have to think," he says, weighing whether the trip was worth the risk.