Legal Question in Immigration Law in New Mexico

Re: Immigration Bill H.R. 4437 and some other issues

You are correct, this bill is very scary. For a section by section summary, I recommend you check out: http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid=18258

A crime involving moral turpitude (CIMT) is a crime which shows moral depravity. Since the criminal's moral compass is what is being examined, an offense may be a a CIMT regardless of whether it is a misdemeanor or a felony. For example, raping a child is a CIMT. So are armed robbery and shoplifting a piece of gum. Various organizations put together lists of state and federal crimes and then state whether each crime has been found to be a CIMT or not. It can get very complicated.

Adultery is not a crime, so it cannot be a CIMT.

Adultery is also not a ground of removability (they don't call it deportation anymore). The 2 year conditional residence requirement was created during the Reagan administration and was designed to prevent marriage fraud. Marriage fraud is already a ground of removability, and is also a federal crime. And when you file to have the conditions taken off of your residence, if you have already divorced your spouse you have to prove that the failure of the marriage was not your fault. So conceivably if you get conditional residence through marriage to a US citizen (USC), and then cheat on your spouse to where he or she divorces you, you will have a hard time proving that the failure of your marriage wasn't your fault and you may be unsuccessful in having the conditions removed from your residence. Then you would lose your legal status and be removable.