For the 12 million undocumented immigrants in the US, including thousands from Ireland, 2007 began as a year of great hope as Congress moved towards approving a comprehensive Bill that would legalise most immigrants while securing the border with Mexico.
The collapse of that Bill followed a noisy campaign on talk radio that panicked many Republicans into insisting on "enforcement only" and rejecting what conservatives saw as an amnesty for illegal immigrants.
The failure of proposals to legalise some farm workers and to allow the children of illegal immigrants to go to college underscored how hostile the political atmosphere had become to immigration reform. Meanwhile, Republicans running for president have been competing to prove which of them would take a harsher approach to the undocumented.
The tone of the debate is likely to become even more hostile once the parties choose their nominees, not least because neither party wants to thoroughly alienate the growing Hispanic vote. Everyone in Washington agrees, however, that comprehensive immigration reform is off the agenda at least until after the 2008 election.
In this context, the Government has been looking at ways of helping Irish undocumented immigrants in the US, perhaps with a bilateral deal that could also make it easier for Americans to work in Ireland.
Neither the Government nor the groups campaigning on behalf of Irish immigrants in the US are under any illusion about how difficult it will be to secure such a deal in the current political climate.
They argue, however, that it would be irresponsible to do nothing on behalf of thousands of Irish people caught in a painful situation, that waiting until a comprehensive Bill comes along is not an option. Denis Staunton