Little hope for change in US immigration law, says Governor

A leading Irish-American politician has said there is little hope of any reform of America's immigration law until at least the year 2020.

Martin O'Malley, the Governor of Maryland, says the current boundaries for election districts in the US mean too many politicians are afraid of supporting immigration reform.

It is estimated that there are 50,000 undocumented Irish immigrants in the USA, who are unable to visit Ireland because of fears that they would be barred from returning to the US.

Governor O'Malley still thinks some of those immigrants could be legalised in future, however.