Its gotten tougher. The truth is, if you were looking to make it a more perm situation, you missed the boat it appears a few times. Around the time you left there were several programs implemented to get illegals to be legal... missmadrid was one of those americans who was on top of the latest immigration news and actually was able to get her papers. I know there are more posters on here who will be of some help. Not knowing any of your background (if you have a spanish parent or not) there isn't much I can tell you- check out other threads on this topic, you'll get tons of information as least on what's been going on. It also looks like there is going to be another change soon in the immigration law, I'm trying to find out more on it, something should come out this month.
Good luck!