Source: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/538/510.html
Timestamp: 2015-12-02 04:24:44
Document Index: 503347986

Matched Legal Cases: ['§1226', '§1226', '§1226', '§1226', '§1226', '§1226', '§1226', '§1226', '§1231', '§1226', '§1226', '§3', '§2241', '§1226', '§1226', '§1226', '§1226', '§1226', '§242', '§1226', '§1226', '§1226', '§1226', '§1226', '§3', '§1226', '§1226', '§1226']

DEMORE v. KIM | FindLaw
DEMORE, DISTRICT DIRECTOR, SAN FRANCISCO DISTRICT OF IMMIGRATION AND NATURALI-ZATION SERVICE, et al. v. KIM, (2003)
Argued: January 15, 2003 Decided: April 29, 2003
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U. S. C. §1226(c), "[t]he Attorney General shall take into custody any alien who" is removable from this country because he has been convicted of one of a specified set of crimes, including an "aggravated felony." After respondent, a lawful permanent resident alien, was convicted in state court of first-degree burglary and, later, of "petty theft with priors," the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) charged him with being deportable from the United States in light of these convictions, and detained him pending his removal hearing. Without disputing the validity of his convictions or the INS' conclusion that he is deportable and therefore subject to mandatory detention under §1226(c), respondent filed a habeas corpus action challenging §1226(c) on the ground that his detention thereunder violated due process because the INS had made no determination that he posed either a danger to society or a flight risk. The District Court agreed and granted respondent's petition subject to the INS' prompt undertaking of an individualized bond hearing, after which respondent was released on bond. In affirming, the Ninth Circuit held that §1226(c) violates substantive due process as applied to respondent because he is a lawful permanent resident, the most favored category of aliens. The court rejected the Government's two principal justifications for mandatory detention under §1226(c), discounting the first--ensuring the presence of criminal aliens at their removal proceedings--upon finding that not all aliens detained pursuant to §1226(c) would ultimately be deported, and discounting the second--protecting the public from dangerous criminal aliens--on the grounds that the aggravated felony classification triggering respondent's detention included crimes (such as respondent's) that the court did not consider "egregious" or otherwise sufficiently dangerous to the public to necessitate mandatory detention. Relying on Zadvydas v. Davis, 533 U. S. 678, the court concluded that the INS had not provided a justification for no-bail civil detention sufficient to overcome a permanent resident alien's liberty interest.
1. Section 1226(e)--which states that "[t]he Attorney General's discretionary judgment regarding the application of this section shall not be subject to review" and that "[n]o court may set aside any action or decision by the Attorney General under this section regarding the detention or release of any alien"--does not deprive the federal courts of jurisdiction to grant habeas relief to aliens challenging their detention under §1226(c). Respondent does not challenge a "discretionary judgment" by the Attorney General or a "decision" that the Attorney General has made regarding his detention or release. Rather, respondent challenges the statutory framework that permits his detention without bail. Where Congress intends to preclude judicial review of constitutional claims its intent to do so must be clear. E.g., Webster v. Doe, 486 U. S. 592, 603. And, where a provision precluding review is claimed to bar habeas review, the Court requires a particularly clear statement that such is Congress' intent. See INS v. St. Cyr, 533 U. S. 289, 308-309, 298, 327. Section 1226(e) contains no explicit provision barring habeas review. Pp. 4-6.
2. Congress, justifiably concerned with evidence that deportable criminal aliens who are not detained continue to engage in crime and fail to appear for their removal hearings in large numbers, may require that persons such as respondent be detained for the brief period necessary for their removal proceedings. In the exercise of its broad power over naturalization and immigration, Congress regularly makes rules that would be unacceptable if applied to citizens. Mathews v. Diaz, 426 U. S. 67, 79-80. Although the Fifth Amendment entitles aliens to due process in deportation proceedings, Reno v. Flores, 507 U. S. 292, 306, detention during such proceedings is a constitutionally valid aspect of the process, e.g., Wong Wing v. United States, 163 U. S. 228, 235, even where, as here, aliens challenge their detention on the grounds that there has been no finding that they are unlikely to appear for their deportation proceedings, Carlson v. Landon, 342 U. S. 524, 538. The INS detention of respondent, a criminal alien who has conceded that he is deportable, for the limited period of his removal proceedings, is governed by these cases. Respondent argues unpersuasively that the §1226(c) detention policy violates due process under Zadvydas, 533 U. S., at 699, in which the Court held that §1231(a)(b) authorizes continued detention of an alien subject to a final removal order beyond that section's 90-day removal period for only such time as is reasonably necessary to secure the removal. Zadvydas is materially different from the present case in two respects. First, the aliens there challenging their detention following final deportation orders were ones for whom removal was "no longer practically attainable," such that their detention did not serve its purported immigration purpose. Id., at 690. In contrast, because the statutory provision at issue in this case governs detention of deportable criminal aliens pending their removal proceedings, the detention necessarily serves the purpose of preventing the aliens from fleeing prior to or during such proceedings. Second, while the period of detention at issue in Zadvydas was "indefinite" and "potentially permanent," id., at 690-691, the record shows that 1226(c) detention not only has a definite termination point, but lasts, in the majority of cases, for less than the 90 days the Court considered presumptively valid in Zadvydas. Pp. 6-20.
Rehnquist, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Kennedy, J., joined in full, in which Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer, JJ., joined as to Part I, and in which O'Connor, Scalia, and Thomas, JJ., joined as to all but Part I. Kennedy, J., filed a concurring opinion. O'Connor, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment, in which Scalia and Thomas, JJ., joined. Souter, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, in which Stevens and Ginsburg, JJ., joined. Breyer, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.
Section 236(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 66 Stat. 200, as amended, 110 Stat. 3009-585, 8 U. S. C. §1226(c), provides that "[t]he Attorney General shall take into custody any alien who" is removable from this country because he has been convicted of one of a specified set of crimes. Respondent is a citizen of the Republic of South Korea. He entered the United States in 1984, at the age of six, and became a lawful permanent resident of the United States two years later. In July 1996, he was convicted of first-degree burglary in state court in California and, in April 1997, he was convicted of a second crime, "petty theft with priors." The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) charged respondent with being deportable from the United States in light of these convictions, and detained him pending his removal hearing.1 We hold that Congress, justifiably concerned that deportable criminal aliens who are not detained continue to engage in crime andfail to appear for their removal hearings in large num-bers, may require that persons such as respondent be detained for the brief period necessary for their removal proceedings.
Respondent does not dispute the validity of his prior convictions, which were obtained following the full procedural protections our criminal justice system offers. Respondent also did not dispute the INS' conclusion that he is subject to mandatory detention under §1226(c). See Brief in Opposition 1-2; App. 8-9.2 In conceding that he was deportable, respondent forwent a hearing at which he would have been entitled to raise any nonfrivolous argument available to demonstrate that he was not properly included in a mandatory detention category. See 8 CFR §3.19(h)(2)(ii) (2002); In re Joseph, 22 I. & N. Dec. 799 (1999).3 Respondent instead filed a habeas corpus action pursuant to 28 U. S. C. §2241 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California challenging the constitutionality of §1226(c) itself. App. to Pet. for Cert. 2a. He argued that his detention under §1226(c) violated due process because the INS had made no determination that he posed either a danger to society or a flight risk. Id., at 31a, 33a.
But respondent does not challenge a "discretionary judgment" by the Attorney General or a "decision" that the Attorney General has made regarding his detention or release. Rather, respondent challenges the statutory framework that permits his detention without bail. Parra v. Perryman, supra, at 957 ("Section 1226(e) likewise deals with challenges to operational decisions, rather thanto the legislation establishing the framework for those decisions").
This Court has held that "where Congress intends to preclude judicial review of constitutional claims its intent to do so must be clear." Webster v. Doe, 486 U. S. 592, 603 (1988); see also Johnson v. Robison, 415 U. S. 361, 367 (1974) (holding that provision barring review of " 'decisions of the Administrator on any question of law or fact under any law administered by the Veterans' Administration providing benefits for veterans' " did not bar constitutional challenge (emphasis deleted)). And, where a provision precluding review is claimed to bar habeas review, the Court has required a particularly clear statement that such is Congress' intent. See INS v. St. Cyr, 533 U. S. 289, 308-309 (2001) (holding that title of provision, "Elimination of Custody Review by Habeas Corpus" along with broad statement of intent to preclude review was not sufficient to bar review of habeas corpus petitions); see also id., at 298 (citing cases refusing to find bar to habeas review where there was no specific mention of the Court's authority to hear habeas petitions); id., at 327 (Scalia, J., dissenting) (arguing that opinion established "a superclear statement, 'magic words' requirement for the congressional expression of " an intent to preclude habeas review).
Having determined that the federal courts have jurisdiction to review a constitutional challenge to §1226(c), we proceed to review respondent's claim. Section 1226(c) mandates detention during removal proceedings for a limited class of deportable aliens--including those convicted of an aggravated felony. Congress adopted this provision against a backdrop of wholesale failure by the INS to deal with increasing rates of criminal activity by aliens. See, e.g., Criminal Aliens in the United States: Hearings before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, 103d Cong., 1st Sess. (1993); S. Rep. No. 104-48, p. 1 (1995) (hereinafter S. Rep. 104-48) (confinement of criminal aliens alone cost $724 million in 1990). Criminal aliens were the fastest growing segment of the federal prison population, already constituting roughly 25% of all federal prisoners, and they formed a rapidly rising share of state prison populations as well. Id., at 6-9. Congress' investigations showed, however, that the INS could not even identify most deportable aliens, much less locate them and remove them from the country. Id., at 1. One study showed that, at the then-current rate of deportation, it would take 23 years to remove every criminal alien already subject to deportation. Id., at 5. Making matters worse, criminal aliens who were deported swiftly reentered the country illegally in great numbers. Id., at 3.
The agency's near-total inability to remove deportable criminal aliens imposed more than a monetary cost on the Nation. First, as Congress explained, "[a]liens who enter or remain in the United States in violation of our law are effectively taking immigration opportunities that might otherwise be extended to others." S. Rep. No. 104-249, p. 7 (1996). Second, deportable criminal aliens who remained in the United States often committed more crimes before being removed. One 1986 study showed that, after criminal aliens were identified as deportable, 77% were arrested at least once more and 45%--nearly half--were arrested multiple times before their deportation proceedings even began. Hearing on H. R. 3333 before the Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and International Law of the House Committee on the Judiciary, 101st Cong., 1st Sess., 54, 52 (1989) (hereinafter 1989 House Hearing); see also Zadvydas, 533 U. S., at 713-714 (Kennedy, J., dissenting) (discussing high rates of recidivism for released criminal aliens).
Once released, more than 20% of deportable criminal aliens failed to appear for their removal hearings. See S. Rep. 104-48, at 2; see also Brief for Petitioners 19.4 The dissent disputes that statistic, post, at 24-25 (opinion of Souter, J.), but goes on to praise a subsequent study conducted by the Vera Institute of Justice that more than confirms it. Post, at 26-27. As the dissent explains, the Vera study found that "77% of those [deportable criminal aliens] released on bond" showed up for their removal proceedings. Post, at 27. This finding--that one out of four criminal aliens released on bond absconded prior to the completion of his removal proceedings--is even more striking than the one-in-five flight rate reflected in the evidence before Congress when it adopted §1226(c).5 The Vera Institute study strongly supports Congress' concern that, even with individualized screening, releasing deportable criminal aliens on bond would lead to an unacceptable rate of flight.
"In the exercise of its broad power over naturalization and immigration, Congress regularly makes rules that would be unacceptable if applied to citizens." Mathews v. Diaz, 426 U. S. 67, 79-80 (1976). The dissent seeks to avoid this fundamental premise of immigration law by repeatedly referring to it as "dictum." Post, at 9-10, n. 9 (opinion of Souter, J.). The Court in Mathews, however, made the statement the dissent now seeks to avoid in reliance on clear precedent establishing that " 'any policy toward aliens is vitally and intricately interwoven with contemporaneous policies in regard to the conduct of foreign relations, the war power, and the maintenance of a republican form of government.' " 342 U. S. 580, 588-589 (1952)). And, since Mathews, this Court has firmly and repeatedly endorsed the proposition that Congress may make rules as to aliens that would be unacceptable if applied to citizens. See, e.g., Zadvydas, 507 U. S. 292, 305-306 (1993) ("Thus, 'in the exercise of its broad power over immigration and naturalization, 'Congress regularly makes rules that would be unacceptable if applied to citizens' " (quoting Fiallo v. Bell, 430 U. S. 787, 792 (1977) (quoting Mathews, supra, at 79-80)); United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez, 494 U. S. 259, 273 (1990). In his habeas corpus challenge, respondent did not contest Congress' general authority to remove criminal aliens from the United States. Nor did he argue that he himself was not "deportable" within the meaning of §1226(c).6 Rather, respondent argued that the Government may not, consistent with the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, detain him for the brief period necessary for his removal proceedings. The dissent, after an initial detour on the issue of respondent's concession, see post, at 2-4 (opinion of Souter, J.), ultimately acknowledges the real issue in this case. Post, at 17, n. 11; see also Brief in Opposition 1-2 (explaining that respondent's "challenge is solely to Section 1226(c)'s absolute prohibition on his release from detention").
The dissent argues that, even though the aliens in Carlson were not flight risks, "individualized findings of dangerousness were made" as to each of the aliens. Post, at 35 (opinion of Souter, J.). The dissent, again, is mistaken. The aliens in Carlson had not been found individually dangerous. The only evidence against them was their membership in the Communist Party and "a degree ... of participation in Communist activities." 342 U. S., at 541. There was no "individualized findin[g]" of likely future dangerousness as to any of the aliens and, in at least one case, there was a specific finding of nondangerousness.8 The Court nonetheless concluded that the denial of bail was permissible "by reference to the legislative scheme to eradicate the evils of Communist activity." Id., at 543.9
In Reno v. Flores, 507 U. S. 292 (1993) the Court considered another due process challenge to detention during deportation proceedings. The due process challenge there was brought by a class of alien juveniles. The INS had arrested them and was holding them in custody pending their deportation hearings. The aliens challenged the agency's policy of releasing detained alien juveniles only into the care of their parents, legal guardians, or certain other adult relatives. See, e.g., id., at 297 (citing Detention and Release of Juveniles, 53 Fed. Reg. 17449 (1988) (codified as to deportation at 8 CFR §242.24 (1992))). The aliens argued that the policy improperly relied "upon a 'blanket' presumption of the unsuitability of custodians other than parents, close relatives, and guardians" to care for the detained juvenile aliens. 507 U. S., at 313. In rejecting this argument, the Court emphasized that "reasonable presumptions and generic rules," even when made by the INS rather than Congress, are not necessarily impermissible exercises of Congress' traditional power to legislate with respect to aliens. Ibid.; see also id., at 313-314 ("In the case of each detained alien juvenile, the INS makes those determinations that are specific to the individual and necessary to accurate application of the regulation ... . The particularization and individuation need go no further than this"). Thus, as with the prior challenges to detention during deportation proceedings, the Court in Flores rejected the due process challenge and upheld the constitutionality of the detention.
Respondent argues that these statistics are irrelevant and do not demonstrate that individualized bond hearings "are ineffective or burdensome." Brief for Respondent 33-40. It is of course true that when Congress enacted §1226, individualized bail determinations had not been tested under optimal conditions, or tested in all their possible permutations. But when the Government deals with deportable aliens, the Due Process Clause does not require it to employ the least burdensome means to accomplish its goal. The evidence Congress had before it certainly supports the approach it selected even if other, hypothetical studies might have suggested different courses of action. Cf., e.g., Los Angeles v. Alameda Books, Inc., 535 U. S. 425, 436-437 (2002); Flores, 467 U. S. 253, 281 (1984))).
Zadvydas distinguished the statutory provision it was there considering from §1226 on these very grounds, noting that "post-removal-period detention, unlike detention pending a determination of removability ... , has no obvious termination point." Id., at 697 (emphasis added). Under 1226(c), not only does detention have a definite termination point, in the majority of cases it lasts for less than the 90 days we considered presumptively valid in Zadvydas.11 The Executive Office for Immigration Review has calculated that, in 85% of the cases in which aliens are detained pursuant to §1226(c), removal proceedings are completed in an average time of 47 days and a median of 30 days. Brief for Petitioners 39-40. In the remaining 15% of cases, in which the alien appeals the decision of the Immigration Judge to the Board of Immigration Appeals, appeal takes an average of four months, with a median time that is slightly shorter. Id., at 40.12
These statistics do not include the many cases in which removal proceedings are completed while the alien is still serving time for the underlying conviction. Id., at 40, n. 17.13 In those cases, the aliens involved are never subjected to mandatory detention at all. In sum, the detention at stake under §1226(c) lasts roughly a month and a half in the vast majority of cases in which it is invoked, and about five months in the minority of cases in which the alien chooses to appeal.14 Respondent was detained for somewhat longer than the average--spending six months in INS custody prior to the District Court's order granting habeas relief, but respondent himself had requested a continuance of his removal hearing.15
For the reasons set forth above, respondent's claim must fail. Detention during removal proceedings is a constitutionally permissible part of that process. See, e.g., Wong Wing, 342 U. S. 524; Flores, 507 U. S. 292. The INS detention of respondent, a criminal alien who has conceded that he is deportable, for the limited period of his removal proceedings, is governed by these cases. The judgment of the Court of Appeals is
While the justification for 8 U. S. C. §1226(c) is based upon the Government's concerns over the risks of flight and danger to the community, ante, at 7-10, the ultimate purpose behind the detention is premised upon the alien's deportability. As a consequence, due process requires individualized procedures to ensure there is at least some merit to the Immigration and Naturalization Service's (INS) charge and, therefore, sufficient justification to detain a lawful permanent resident alien pending a more formal hearing. See Zadvydas v. Davis, 533 U. S. 678, 690 (2001) ("[W]here detention's goal is no longer practically attainable, detention no longer bears a reasonable relation to the purpose for which the individual was committed" (internal quotation marks and brackets omitted)); id., at 718 (Kennedy, J., dissenting) ("Liberty under the Due Process Clause includes protection against unlawful or arbitrary personal restraint or detention"). If the Government cannot satisfy this minimal, threshold burden, then the permissibility of continued detention pending deportation proceedings turns solely upon the alien's ability to satisfy the ordinary bond procedures--namely, whether if released the alien would pose a risk of flight or a danger to the community. Id., at 721 (Kennedy, J., dissenting).
As the Court notes, these procedures were apparently available to respondent in this case. Respondent was entitled to a hearing in which he could have "raise[d] any nonfrivolous argument available to demonstrate that he was not properly included in a mandatory detention category." Ante, at 2, and n. 3 (citing 8 CFR §3.19(h)(2)(ii) (2002); In re Joseph, 22 I. & N. Dec. 799 (1999)). Had he prevailed in such a proceeding, the Immigration Judge then would have had to determine if respondent "could be considered ... for release under the general bond provisions" of §1226(a). Id., at 809. Respondent, however, did not seek relief under these procedures, and the Court had no occasion here to determine their adequacy. Ante, at 2, n. 3.
I join all but Part I of the Court's opinion because, a majority having determined there is jurisdiction, I agree with the Court's resolution of respondent's challenge on the merits. I cannot join Part I because I believe that 8 U. S. C. §1226(e) unequivocally deprives federal courts of jurisdiction to set aside "any action or decision" by the Attorney General in detaining criminal aliens under §1226(c) while removal proceedings are ongoing. That is precisely the nature of the action before us.
"The Attorney General's discretionary judgment regardi