In the 2009 film The Proposal, a Canadian immigrant to the United States has a denial of visa renewal, and gets married solely to avoid deportation. The immigration agent suspects the marriage is fraudulent, and much of the movie centers around the activities to "prove" the marriage is real and thereby avoid deportation for her and felony charges for her "husband" for fraudulent marriage. Many hijinks ensue. (And of course since it's a romantic comedy, the marriage becomes real though it didn't start out that way.)
I realized recently I have no idea how reality-based any of these underlying premises are, and a check online didn't quickly reveal any discussion of the legal factors that I could find. So I'm curious:
Are there in fact felony charges that could be brought in the USA on the basis of a "fraudulent marriage" entered into only to avoid deportation? If so, what factors would make the marriage fraudulent?
If there are such laws, are they really enforced? Or is it something like the laws against adultery in the seventeen states which still have them (where breaking the rules is socially frowned on but usually not prosecuted criminally)?
