Yea, I get this question a lot. And one reason I came to the Annual Conference in Boston was to meet with the AILA Washington DC Headquarters staff.
I met with them yesterday. Word on Comprehensive Immigration Reform? NOT looking good. Ugh. We can argue the significance of the highly unusual loss of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va), and whether it’s because he was “soft” on immigration or just out of touch. But according to the AILA national folks – it’s unlikely that it’ll happen this year.
Also, this morning Alejandro Mayorkas, Deputy Secretary, Department of Homeland Security, gave the keynote address at the conference. In the past, USCIS has had good news for us: last year it was the groundbreaking Windsor decision that allowed same-sex couples the same rights to permanent residence as heterosexual couples, and the year before they announced Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). This year – nada, zip, zero, zilch! No good news about reform, or fixes.
So… at this point in time, if you’re wondering if there will be a new law this year? Probably not 🙁