WASHINGTON -- Alabama's senators voted with a majority of Republicans to block a bill Wednesday that would have given some children of illegal immigrants legal U.S. status.

The bill would offer conditional legal status to those who have lived in the U.S. for at least five years if they attend college or join the military for at least two years. Those children also must have arrived before age 16 and not committed a felony.

"This would be the wrong direction. This would be to signal that once again we are focused on rewarding illegality rather than taking the steps necessary to create a lawful system," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile. "It would put illegals ahead of legals."

The vote was 52 to 44 but needed 60 votes to move forward.

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, also voted against it.

The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act -- DREAM Act for short -- was a popular part of a broad immigration plan that would have legalized as many as 12 million unlawful immigrants and fortified the border.

That larger bill failed in the Senate in June. But proponents of the DREAM Act wanted to see if it would pass on its own.

Some Democrats called the legislation a small step forward in the larger overall immigration debate. Many of these children have few memories of their home countries, said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who sponsored the bill.

"What crime did these children commit? They committed the crime of obeying their parents, following their parents to this country," he said. "Give them a chance. Give them hope."

The White House opposes the legislation, but did not threaten to veto it.

While sympathetic to children brought into the country illegally by their parents, the White House said in a statement the bill falls short by "creating a special path to citizenship that is unavailable to other prospective immigrants -- including young people whose parents respected the nation's immigration laws."