Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/19-896_2135.pdf
Page Number: 18

2 

JOHNSON v. ARTEAGA-MARTINEZ 

Opinion of BREYER, J. 

post-removal-period detention to a period reasonably neces-
sary  to  bring  about  that  alien’s  removal  from  the  United 
States.  It does not permit indefinite detention.”  Id., at 689– 
690; see also id., at 690–696 (explaining potential constitu-
tional  concerns  presented  by  indefinite  detention  under 
§1231(a)(6)).

We also held that the period reasonably necessary to ef-
fect  removal  was  presumptively  six  months.  Id.,  at 701. 
“[W]e recognize[d] that period” “for the sake of uniform ad-
ministration in the federal courts.”  Ibid.  But “[a]fter this 
6-month period, once the alien provides good reason to be-
lieve that there is no significant likelihood of removal in the 
reasonably  foreseeable  future,  the  Government  must  re-
spond with evidence sufficient to rebut that showing.  And 
for  detention  to  remain  reasonable,  as  the  period  of  prior
postremoval  confinement  grows,  what  counts  as  the  ‘rea-
sonably  foreseeable  future’  conversely  would  have  to 
shrink.”  Ibid. 

In  my  view,  Zadvydas  controls  the  outcome  here.    The 
statutory language is identical, which is not surprising, for 
this case concerns the same statutory provision.  There are 
two  conceivable  differences  between  this  case  and 
Zadvydas,  but  both  argue  in  favor  of  applying  Zadvydas’ 
holding here.

First,  the  respondent  here,  Antonio  Arteaga-Martinez,
has  been  ordered  removed,  and  is  therefore  subject  to
§1231(a),  for  a  different  reason  than  the  persons  whose 
cases we considered in Zadvydas.  Kestutis Zadvydas and 
Kim Ho Ma were ordered removed because they had been
convicted of serious crimes.  Id., at 684–685.  Zadvydas had 
committed drug crimes, attempted robbery, attempted bur-
glary, and theft; Ma was involved in a gang-related shoot-
ing  and  convicted  of  manslaughter.  Ibid.  Arteaga-Mar-
tinez’s  only  crime  (besides  minor  traffic  violations)  is 
entering the United States without inspection.  Ante, at 2. 
The Government seeks to detain him while an immigration