Activists rallied for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in Riverdale Thursday, demanding Congress protect the so-called Dreamers with new legislation.

As News 12 has reported, President Donald Trump will end protection for DACA recipients beginning next month. They are immigrants who were brought to the United States unlawfully as children.

About 100 people rallied in the cold outside Rep. Eliot Engel's office to demand a pathway to citizenship for the Dreamers, many of whom have no recollection of life outside the U.S.

One of them, who gave her name only as Maria, says she came to America from Mexico before her first birthday.

"I was raised here my entire life," she says. 

Now she attends Lehman College, where she studies business administration.

Among the ralliers was Tereza Lee, who is widely considered to be the first Dreamer. That's because she inspired the Dream Act, a failed piece of legislation that would have given people like her a pathway to citizenship.

"I realized we didn't have any rights in this country, so I decided I need to do something to help," she says.

Although she has gained citizenship for herself through marriage, she says she worries that people with similar backgrounds may just get kicked out of the country.