The Senate on Wednesday agreed to adopt a program for verifying the immigration status of those seeking work in the United States, previewing what could be a fight over revamping the troubled immigration system this year.

The Senate agreed to make permanent the voluntary “E-Verify” program as part of a $42.9 billion bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security for fiscal 2010.

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A Cuban national who spent months awaiting deportation at a Los Angeles immigration detention center is accused of posing as a lawyer after his release and representing immigrants in court.

Raul Ernest Alonso-Prieto was detained for months at the San Pedro Processing Center before his release in December 2006 because the United States doesn’t have diplomatic relations with Cuba and he couldn’t be deported.

A 22-count federal grand jury indictment said Alonso-Prieto, 60, pretended to be an attorney named Kenneth Robert-Murphy Peterson, and used the California Bar number of a lawyer with a similar name.

The indictment said Alonso-Prieto recruited immigrants at the detention center and charged between $500 and $2,500 for his services.

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The AP writes a story on themassive movement of immigrants who’ve bypassed traditional destinations such as New York and Los Angeles in favor of the South, bringing rapid change to cities such as Charlotte, N.C.; Birmingham, Ala.; Orlando, Fla., and most recently, disaster-stricken New Orleans. In many cases, they’ve also settled in the suburbs instead of in urban pockets.

“Odilio Perez aches for a life beyond Buford Highway, a six-lane stretch of strip malls and ethnic diversity that cuts through three counties in the New American South. The Guatemalan settled along the artery leading out of Atlanta more than a decade ago, answering the call of local officials who used the springboard of the 1996 Summer Olympics to make immigrants a centerpiece of the community’s rebirth.”

In 2006, law enforcement agencies in the Southeast followed the lead of their counterparts in the Southwest and enlisted in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement partnership that allows local officers to interview and fingerprint foreign-born people they detain.

Now the deportation program is closing in on Buford Highway. The Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Department, which patrols communities just outside Chamblee, is awaiting final ICE approval to participate.

Even immigrants who want to be on the right side of the law stand little chance. The stepped-up enforcement has contributed to a decade-long backlog in legal residency applications and, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a wait list of about 1 million for citizenship.

Immigration is a complex topic in which people can get lost in the shuffle. A qualified Atlanta Immigration Lawyers can help you with family immigration issues and help you handle ever-changing US immigration laws.

According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, an immigration reform ralley was held in Gwinnett County on Sunday. More than 3,000 people gathered to rally for immigration reform and immigration rights.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) both spoke as part of the rally.

People at the rally hope that President Obama will prioritize immigration reform.

Immigration is a complex topic. Qualified Atlanta Immigration Lawyers can help you with family immigration issues and help you handle changing US immigration laws.