Sari Long Shares Insights on USCIS Policy Memo With Law Week Colorado

Labor and employment partner Sari Long spoke with Law Week Colorado about the impact of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) policy memorandum, issued on May 21, 2026, which emphasized that adjustment of status is a matter of agency discretion.

Long noted that she has not seen a significant shift in how adjustment of status applications are adjudicated following the memo’s release, but that the discretionary analysis remains an important consideration.

The article highlights that immigration-related questions that were once relatively routine now require a more individualized assessment of potential risks and outcomes.“ In previous years, this would have been completely normal and pretty risk-free,” Long said. “Now everything bears some risk, and you need to know what that looks like.”

Long shared that increased scrutiny of applicants’ backgrounds and evolving adjudication practices underscore the need for a more strategic approach to immigration matters. “It has not become impossible, but it does require skilled and experienced immigration counsel to navigate what changes every day,” Long concluded.