Arlington

My comment was in response to LlamaInvasion's over-broad statement that "when they eventually do catch the person, they WILL deport him." Lawyers live to make new law. So do many judges. And (see today's breaking news about Obama's "case-by-case review" of deportation orders) so do presidents. Who would have thought 15 years ago that asylum law would now apply to battered women or transvestites? Tell the beneficiaries of these new policies that "there's nothing a high paid lawyer can do"! Obama's policy--as announced today--will, for many people who are currently under deportation orders, cancel their deportation and provide them with work permits. If you're one of these people, I would suggest hiring a high-paid lawyer right away! For those EWIs not currently under deportation orders, and who are living otherwise law-abiding lives, they now realize that they may be able to stay put--the worst that will happen is that they'll get hauled in and then be exonerated and provided a work permit. In the OP's situation, the woman has been here for 8 years already. Would anyone recommend that she voluntarily return to Central America and risk having to stay outside the USA for years when the risk in staying here may be quite low?

Right--The applicable paragraph points to another document.
"Nonresident alien or dual-status alien. A joint return generally cannot be filed if either spouse is a nonresident alien at any time during the tax year. However, if one spouse was a nonresident alien or dual-status alien who was married to a U.S. citizen or resident alien at the end of the year, the spouses can choose to file a joint return. If you do file a joint return, you and your spouse are both treated as U.S. residents for the entire tax year. For information on this choice, see chapter 1 of Publication 519."
My wife and I did this for CY2007 (she didn't enter until 2008). We had to include a "Declaration That Non-Resident Spouse Be Treated as Resident" (I wrote this up in a few short sentences, and which we both signed and had notarized) and her application for an ITIN number. Her income was small compared to mine, so it worked out. We got a nice refund, as my withholding had been low. In place of a W-2, I wrote up a page that she had notarized stating the name of her employer and that her income was $X. This was sufficient for the IRS.

If you go to:
http://www.house.gov/
In the upper-right-hand corner, you can enter your zip code in a dialog box and it will tell you your representative.

One thing for you (the USC) to consider is what your career is; for U.S. citizens working for the U.S. military or government, especially those requiring security clearances, adding a second citizenship may cause big problems, quite apart from immigration law.

I found another article about this, including direct quotes from the USCIS document:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/14/government-facebook_n_762581.html
"Narcissistic tendencies in many people fuels a need to have a large group of 'friends' link to their pages and many of these people accept cyber-friends that they don't even know," the USCIS explains. "This provides an excellent vantage point for FDNS to observe the daily life of beneficiaries and petitioners who are suspected of fraudulent activities."
The memo also suggests that agents should treat online profiles as a "cyber 'site-visit'" and look to them to spot fake relationships and other types of fraud.
"Generally, people on these sites speak honestly in their network because all of their friends and family are interacting with them via lM's (Instant Messages), Blogs (Weblog journals), etc.," advises the USCIS memo. "This social networking gives FDNS an opportunity to reveal fraud by browsing these sites to see if petitioners and beneficiaries are in a valid relationship or are attempting to deceive CIS about their relationship. Once a user posts online, they create a public record and timeline of their activities. In essence, using MySpace and other like sites is akin to doing an unannounced cyber "site-visit" on a petitioners and beneficiaries."