Braking the law?

No not the Judas Priest song, It's a question.

Okay I worked with this guy from Brazil, he was a nice guy and I considered him a friend. he spoke very little English anyhow I moved out of state and haven spoke to him in over a year, The last I heard was that he was trying to get his wife and child to the U.S. So, to get to the point he calls me and wants me to go to Brazil and marry his wife (yeah I know that dos not sound right.) and bring her back to the good ol' U.S. of A. I tried to explain to him that it. can't be that easy. and that in fact it probably is braking some kind of law, but the only other language I speak is l33t sp34k which I'm pretty sure does not count as a real language. Yes I know it could be some nefarious plot to kidnap an American, but I work in a grocery store and I owe more money than I'm worth. Automatically discounting that he wants to do harm to me, what I'm more worried about is the harm the U.S. Government would do to me. I tried googling it a bit but all I could come up with is some sites showing how to get a k-1 visa. And my next question is why (assuming he's in America legally like) would it be so hard for his wife and child to get in to the U.S. I know that I'm even asking it here seems that I'm considering doing it, just for the record I'm not really considering doing it. What I'm asking is how can I explain it to the guy, I mean what he's asking is illegal right? I couldn't find any you will go to jail for X years if you do this, but then I don't know exactly what I'm looking for. And is there a legal way I can help considering that we are now separated by a few states and I have less than no money.

It's called marriage fraud or visa fraud.

If you want to get technical:

1948 Marriage Fraud -- 8 U.S.C. § 1325(c) and 18 U.S.C. § 1546

Marriage fraud has been prosecuted, inter alia, under 8 U.S.C. § 1325 and 18 U.S.C. § 1546(a). The Immigration Marriage Fraud Amendments Act of 1986 amended § 1325 by adding § 1325(c), which provides a penalty of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine for any "individual who knowingly enters into a marriage for the purpose of evading any provision of the immigration laws." Under 8 U.S.C. § 1151(b), "immediate relatives" of U.S. citizens, including spouses, who are otherwise qualified for admission as immigrants, must be admitted as such, without regard to other, ordinary numerical limitations. The typical fact pattern in marriage fraud cases is that a U.S. citizen and an alien get married. They fulfill all state law requirements such as medical tests, licensing, and a ceremony. But the U.S. citizen is paid to marry the alien in order to entitle the alien to obtain status as a permanent resident of the United States; the parties do not intend to live together as man and wife. A legal issue arises where the parties tell the INS they are married, and they subjectively believe they are telling the truth because they have complied with state marriage requirements. The Supreme Court has ruled that the validity of their marriage under state law is immaterial to the issue of whether they defrauded INS. See Lutwak v. United States, 344 U.S. 604 (1953). Lutwak was followed in United States v. Yum, 776 F.2d 490 (4th Cir. 1985); Johl v. United States, 370 F.2d 174 (9th Cir.1966), and Chin Bick Wah v. United States, 245 F.2d 274 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 355 U.S. 870 (1957). But see, United States v. Lozano, 511 F.2d 1 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 850 (1975); United States v. Diogo, 320 F.2d 898 (2d Cir. 1963). But cf, United States v. Sarantos, 455 F.2d 877 (2d Cir. 1972).

There have been situations where a bona fide marriage turns sour but the alien induces the U.S. citizen spouse to maintain the marriage as a ruse only as long as necessary for the alien to obtain status as a permanent resident alien. There is a line of cases holding that the viability of the marriage, if initially valid, is not a proper concern of the INS. United States v. Qaisi, 779 F.2d 346 (6th Cir. 1985); Dabaghian v. Civilleti, 607 F.2d 868 (9th Cir. 1979), and cases cited therein. However, the Immigration Marriage Fraud Amendments of 1986, 8 U.S.C. § 1186a, were designed, inter alia, to eliminate the Qaisi type loophole by establishing a two-year conditional status for alien spouses seeking permanent resident status, and requiring that an actual family unit still remain in existence at the end of the two year period.

Besides criminal penalties (five years imprisonment and $250,000 fine) for engaging in marriage fraud (INA §275(c); 8 US.C. §1325(c) for both the alien and the citizen, an alien who has attempted to circumvent the immigration laws through marriage is permanently barred from being approved for any future visa petitions."

"Most marriage fraud involves one transaction: A US citizen accepts a one-time payment to actually marry the foreigner. Usually they sponsor the immigrant, go through with a wedding, and live as roommates, or at least set-up a joint home and accounts that make them appear to live together. It is these cases which are the hardest to uncover, since doing so would require a great deal of private investigation and manpower. Still, people who commit this crime tend to think of it as innocently helping someone out. They are not usually savvy criminals, and they often make blatant mistakes that might be picked up by an immigration official. When this happens, the outcome is not good.

Committing even one case of marriage fraud is a serious crime, punishable by prison. It hardly seems worth it in the end. After all, freedom is pretty important; it's the very thing that usually motivates foreigners to commit this type of fraud in the fist place: Coming to the Land of the Free. But as they say, freedom is never free, is it? "

Finally, if you're a gambling man,

"Cases of marriage fraud are rarely exposed. Homeland Security says it completed investigations of only 1% of marriage-based green cards in 2004."

That is exactly the info I was looking for. Thank you Marknew.