WEST PALM BEACH — Supporters of an immigration bill called the Dream Act will stage a newsa conference at West Palm Beach City Hall at noon, to encourage members of Congress to pass the legislation during the current lame duck session.

The Dream Act -- the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act -- would allow undocumented individuals 35 and under, who were brought to this country before the age of 16 and who have finished high school, to achieve legal immigration status in the U.S. if they serve in the U.S. military or complete two years of college.

The bill has the support of military leaders and some of the nations leaders in education, but it was voted down in September when the Democratic leadership attached it to a defense appropriations bill. Not one Republican senator voted for it, dooming the measure.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority leader Harry Reid have promised to present it again as a stand alone bill during the lame duck session. Pelosi originally scheduled it to be brought to the House floor Monday but postponed it."We are told it will be voted on some time this week or next week," said Manuel Guerra, a member of Students for Equal Rights, a group backing the bill.

The group staging the press conference today is Florida Voices for Immigration Reform (FVIR), a coalition that advocates for comprehensive changes in federal immigration policies.

"Our mission is to secure a passage of the Dream Act and we are contacting our South Florida members of Congress to make it a reality," said Gary Walk, an FVIR representative and vice president of the American Jewish Committee of Palm Beach County. "This is a common sense law that is good for our economy and is great for our military," he said.