Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/16-1363
Timestamp: 2019-05-24 11:20:23
Document Index: 797876170

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NIELSEN v. PREAP | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute
NIELSEN v. PREAP ( )
Concurrence, Kavanaugh [HTML] [PDF]
No. 16–1363. Argued October 10, 2018—Decided March 19, 20191
Federal immigration law empowers the Secretary of Homeland Security to arrest and hold a deportable alien pending a removal decision, and generally gives the Secretary the discretion either to detain the alien or to release him on bond or parole. 8 U. S. C. §1226(a). Another provision, §1226(c)—enacted out of “concer[n] that deportable criminal aliens who are not detained continue to engage in crime and fail to appear for their removal hearings,” Demore v. Kim, 538 U. S. 510, 513—sets out four categories of aliens who are inadmissible or deportable for bearing certain links to terrorism or for committing specified crimes. Section 1226(c)(1) directs the Secretary to arrest any such criminal alien “when the alien is released” from jail, and §1226(c)(2) forbids the Secretary to release any “alien described in paragraph (1)” pending a determination on removal (with one exception not relevant here).
Respondents, two classes of aliens detained under §1226(c)(2), allege that because they were not immediately detained by immigration officials after their release from criminal custody, they are not aliens “described in paragraph (1),” even though all of them fall into at least one of the four categories covered by §§1226(c)(1)(A)–(D). Because the Government must rely on §1226(a) for their detention, respondents argue, they are entitled to bond hearings to determine if they should be released pending a decision on their status. The District Courts ruled for respondents, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed.
Justice Alito delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, III–A, III–B–1, and IV, concluding that the Ninth Circuit’s interpretation of §1226(c) is contrary to the plain text and structure of the statute. Pp. 10–17, 20–26.
(a) The statute’s text does not support the argument that because respondents were not arrested immediately after their release, they are not “described in” §1226(c)(1). Since an adverb cannot modify a noun, §1226(c)(1)’s adverbial clause “when . . . released” does not modify the noun “alien,” which is modified instead by the adjectival clauses appearing in subparagraphs (A)–(D). Respondents contend that an adverb can “describe” a person even though it cannot modify the noun used to denote that person, but this Court’s interpretation is not dependent on a rule of grammar. The grammar merely complements what is conclusive here: the meaning of “described” as it appears in §1226(c)(2)—namely, “to communicate verbally . . . an account of salient identifying features,” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 610. That is the relevant definition since the indisputable job of the “descri[ption] in paragraph (1)” is to “identif[y]” for the Secretary which aliens she must arrest immediately “when [they are] released.” Yet the “when . . . released” clause could not possibly describe aliens in that sense. If it did, the directive given to the Secretary in §1226(c)(1) would be incoherent. Moreover, Congress’s use of the definite article in “when the alien is released” indicates that the scope of the word “alien” “has been previously specified in context.” Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 1294. For that noun to have been previously specified, its scope must have been settled by the time the “when . . . released” clause appears at the end of paragraph (1). Thus, the class of people to whom “the alien” refers must be fixed by the predicate offenses identified in subparagraphs (A)–(D). Pp. 10–14.
(b) Subsections (a) and (c) do not establish separate sources of arrest and release authority; subsection (c) is a limit on the authority conferred by subsection (a). Accordingly, all the relevant detainees will have been arrested by authority that springs from subsection (a), and that fact alone will not spare them from subsection (c)(2)’s prohibition on release. The text of §1226 itself contemplates that aliens arrested under subsection (a) may face mandatory detention under subsection (c). If §1226(c)’s detention mandate applied only to those arrested pursuant to subsection (c)(1), there would have been no need for subsection (a)’s sentence on the release of aliens to include the words “[e]xcept as provided in subsection (c).” It is also telling that subsection (c)(2) does not limit mandatory detention to those arrested “pursuant to” subsection (c)(1) or “under authority created by” subsection (c)(1), but to anyone so much as “described in” subsection (c)(1). Pp. 15–17.
(c) This reading of §1226(c) does not flout the interpretative canon against surplusage. The “when . . . released” clause still functions to clarify when the duty to arrest is triggered and to exhort the Secretary to act quickly. Nor does this reading have the incongruous result of forbidding the release of a set of aliens whom there is no duty to arrest in the first place. Finally, the canon of constitutional avoidance does not apply where there is no ambiguity. See Warger v. Shauers, 574 U. S. 40, 50. Pp. 20–26.
Justice Alito, joined by The Chief Justice and JusticeKavanaugh, concluded in Parts II and III–B–2:
(a) This Court has jurisdiction to hear these cases. The limitation on review in §1226(e) applies only to “discretionary” decisions about the “application” of §1226 to particular cases. It does not block lawsuits over “the extent of the Government’s detention authority under the ‘statutory framework’ as a whole.” Jennings v. Rodriguez, 583 U. S. ___, ___. For reasons stated in Jennings, “§1252(b)(9) does not present a jurisdictional bar.” See id., at ___. Whether the District Court in the Preap case had jurisdiction under §1252(f)(1) to grant injunctive relief is irrelevant because the court had jurisdiction to entertain the plaintiffs’ request for declaratory relief. And, the fact that by the time of class certification the named plaintiffs had obtained either cancellation of removal or bond hearings did not make these cases moot. At least one named plaintiff in both cases could have been returned to detention and then denied a subsequent bond hearing. Even if that had not been so, these cases would not be moot because the harms alleged are transitory enough to elude review. County of Riverside v. McLaughlin, 500 U. S. 44, 52. Pp. 7–10.
(b) Even assuming that §1226(c)(1) requires immediate arrest, the result below would be wrong, because a statutory rule that officials “ ‘shall’ act within a specified time” does not by itself “preclud[e] action later,” Barnhart v. Peabody Coal Co., 537 U. S. 149, 158. This principle for interpreting time limits on statutory mandates was a fixture of the legal backdrop when Congress enacted §1226(c). Cf. Woodford v. Garceau, 538 U. S. 202, 209. Pp. 17–20.
Justice Thomas, joined by Justice Gorsuch, concluded that three statutory provisions—8 U. S. C. §§1252(b)(9), 1226(e), and 1252(f)(1)—limit judicial review in these cases and it is unlikely that the District Courts had Article III jurisdiction to certify the classes. Pp. 1–6.
Alito, J., announced the judgment of the Court and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, III–A, III–B–1, and IV, in which Roberts, C. J., and Thomas, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh, JJ., joined, and an opinion with respect to Parts II and III–B–2, in which Roberts, C. J., and Kavanaugh, J., joined. Kavanaugh, J., filed a concurring opinion. Thomas, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment, in which Gorsuch, J., joined. Breyer, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Kagan, JJ., joined.
1 Together with Wilcox, Acting Field Office Director, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, et al. v. Khoury et al. (see this Court’s Rule 12.4), also on certiorari to the same court.
Under federal immigration law, aliens present in this country may be removed if they fall “within one or more . . . classes of deportable aliens.” 8 U. S. C. §1227(a). In these cases, we focus on two provisions governing the arrest, detention, and release of aliens who are believed to be subject to removal.
The first provision, §1226(a), 1 applies to most such aliens, and it sets out the general rule regarding their arrest and detention pending a decision on removal. Section 1226(a) contains two sentences, one dealing with taking an alien into custody and one dealing with detention. The first sentence empowers the Secretary of Homeland Security 2 to arrest and hold an alien “pending a decision on whether the alien is to be removed from the United States.” The second sentence generally gives the Secretary the discretion either to detain the alien or to release him on bond or parole. If the alien is detained, he may seek review of his detention by an officer at the Department of Homeland Security and then by an immigration judge (both exercising power delegated by the Secretary), see 8 CFR §§236.1(c)(8) and (d)(1), 1003.19, 1236.1(d)(1) (2018); and the alien may secure his release if he can convince the officer or immigration judge that he poses no flight risk and no danger to the community. See §§1003.19(a), 1236.1(d); Matter of Guerra, 24 I. & N. Dec. 37 (BIA 2006). But while 8 U. S. C. §1226(a) generally permits an alien to seek release in this way, that provision’s sentence on release states that all this is subject to an exception that is set out in §1226(c).
Section 1226(c) was enacted as part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, and it sprang from a “concer[n] that deportable criminal aliens who are not detained continue to engage in crime and fail to appear for their removal hearings in large numbers.” Demore v. Kim, 538 U. S. 510, 513 (2003). To address this problem, Congress mandated that aliens who were thought to pose a heightened risk be arrested and detained without a chance to apply for release on bond or parole.
The categories of predicates for mandatory detention identified in subparagraphs (A)–(D) generally involve the commission of crimes. As will become relevant to our analysis, however, some who satisfy subparagraph (D)—e.g., close relatives of terrorists and those who are thought likely to engage in terrorist activity, see 8 U. S. C. §1182(a)(3)(B)(i)(IX)—may never have been charged with any crime in this country. 4 Still, since the vast majority of mandatory-detention cases do involve convictions, we follow the heading of subsection (c), as well as our cases and the courts below, in referring to aliens who satisfy subparagraphs (A)–(D) collectively as “criminal aliens.”
Although the named plaintiffs in Preap were not taken into custody on immigration grounds until years after their release from criminal custody, the District Court certified a broad class comprising all aliens in California “ ‘who are or will be subjected to mandatory detention under 8 U. S. C. section 1226(c) and who were not or will not have been taken into custody by the government immediately upon their release from criminal custody for a [s]ection 1226(c)(1) offense.’ ” 831 F. 3d, at 1198 (emphasis added). The District Court granted a preliminary injunction against the mandatory detention of the members of this class, holding that criminal aliens are exempt from mandatory detention under §1226(c) (and are thus entitled to a bond hearing) unless they are arrested “ ‘when [they are] released,’ and no later.” Preap v. Johnson, 303 F. R. D. 566, 577 (ND Cal. 2014) (quoting 8 U. S. C. §1226(c)(1)). The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed.
Khoury, the other case now before us, involves habeas petitions and a class-action complaint filed in the Western District of Washington. The District Court certified a class comprising all aliens in that district “who were subjected to mandatory detention under 8 U. S. C. §1226(c) even though they were not detained immediately upon their release from criminal custody.” 667 Fed. Appx., at 967. The District Court granted summary judgment for respondents, and the Ninth Circuit again affirmed, citing its decision on the same day in Preap.
Even if that had not been so, these cases would not be moot because the fact that a class “was not certified until after the named plaintiffs’ claims had become moot does not deprive us of jurisdiction” when, as in these cases, the harms alleged are transitory enough to elude review. County of Riverside v. McLaughlin, 500 U. S. 44, 52 (1991) (affirming jurisdiction over a class action challenging a county’s failure to provide “prompt” determinations of probable cause for those subjected to warrantless arrest and detention). Respondents claim that they would be harmed by detention without a hearing pending a decision on their removal. Because this type of injury ends as soon as the decision on removal is made, it is transitory. So the fact that the named plaintiffs obtained some relief before class certification does not moot their claims.
Our reading is confirmed by Congress’s use of the definite article in “when the alien is released.” Because “[w]ords are to be given the meaning that proper grammar and usage would assign them,” A. Scalia & B. Garner, Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts 140 (2012), the “rules of grammar govern” statutory interpretation “unless they contradict legislative intent or purpose,” ibid. (citing Costello v. INS, 376 U. S. 120, 122–126 (1964)). Here grammar and usage establish that “the” is “a function word . . . indicat[ing] that a following noun or noun equivalent is definite or has been previously specified by context.” Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 1294 (11th ed. 2005). See also Work v. United States ex rel. McAlester-Edwards Co., 262 U. S. 200, 208 (1923) (Congress’s “use of the definite article [in a reference to “the appraisement”] means an appraisement specifically provided for”). For “the alien”—in the clause “when the alien is released”—to have been previously specified, its scope must have been settled by the time the “when . . . released” clause appears at the tail end of paragraph (1).
The text of §1226 itself contemplates that aliens ar-rested under subsection (a) may face mandatory detention under subsection (c). The second sentence in subsection (a)—which generally authorizes the Secretary to release an alien pending removal proceedings—features an exception “as provided in subsection (c).” But if the Court of Appeals were right that subsection (c)(2)’s prohibition on release applies only to those arrested pursuant to subsection (c)(1), there would have been no need to specify that such aliens are exempt from subsection (a)’s release provision. This shows that it is possible for those arrested under subsection (a) to face mandatory detention under subsection (c). We draw a similar inference from the fact that subsection (c)(2), for its part, does not limit manda-tory detention to those arrested “pursuant to” subsection (c)(1) or “under authority created by” subsection (c)(1)—but to anyone so much as “described in” subsection (c)(1). This choice of words marks a contrast with Congress’s reference—in the immediately preceding subsection—to actions by the Secretary that are “authorized under” subsection (a). See §1226(b). Cf. 18 U. S. C. §3262(b) (referring to “a person arrested under subsection (a)” (emphasis added)). These textual cues indicate that even if an alien was not arrested under authority bestowed by sub-section (c)(1), he may face mandatory detention under subsection (c)(2).
But even if the Court of Appeals were right to reject this reading, the result below would be wrong. To see why, assume with the Court of Appeals that only someone arrested under authority created by §1226(c)(1)—rather than the more general §1226(a)—may be detained without a bond hearing. And assume that subsection (c)(1) requires immediate arrest. Even then, the Secretary’s failure to abide by this time limit would not cut off her power to arrest under subsection (c)(1). That is so because, as we have held time and again, an official’s crucial duties are better carried out late than never. See Sylvain v. Attorney General of U. S., 714 F. 3d 150, 158 (CA3 2013) (collecting cases). Or more precisely, a statutory rule that officials “ ‘shall’ act within a specified time” does not by itself “preclud[e] action later.” Barnhart v. Peabody Coal Co., 537 U. S. 149, 158 (2003).
Especially relevant here is our decision in United States v. Montalvo-Murillo, 495 U. S. 711 (1990). There we held that “a provision that a detention hearing ‘shall be held immediately upon the [detainee’s] first appearance before the judicial officer’ did not bar detention after a tardy hearing.” Barnhart, 537 U. S., at 159 (quoting Montalvo-Murillo, 495 U. S., at 714). In that case, we refused to “bestow upon the defendant a windfall” and “visit upon the Government and the citizens a severe penalty by mandating release of possibly dangerous defendants every time some deviation from the [statutory] strictures . . . occur[red].” Montalvo-Murillo, 495 U. S., at 720. Instead, we gave effect to the principle that “ ‘if a statute does not specify a consequence for noncompliance with statutory timing provisions, the federal courts will not in the ordinary course impose their own coercive sanction.’ ” Barnhart, 537 U. S., at 159 (quoting United States v. James Daniel Good Real Property, 510 U. S. 43, 63 (1993)).
This principle for interpreting time limits on statutory mandates was a fixture of the legal backdrop when Congress enacted §1226(c). Cf. Woodford v. Garceau, 538 U. S. 202, 209 (2003) (relying on the “legal backdrop” against which “Congress legislated” to clarify what Congress enacted). Indeed, we have held of a statute enacted just four years before §1226(c) that because of our case law at the time—never since abrogated—Congress was “presumably aware that we do not readily infer congressional intent to limit an agency’s power to get a mandatory job done merely from a specification to act by a certain time.” Barnhart, 537 U. S., at 160 (relying on Brock v. Pierce County, 476 U. S. 253 (1986)). Here this principle entails that even if subsection (c)(1) were the sole source of authority to arrest aliens without granting them hearings, that authority would not evaporate just because officials had transgressed subsection (c)(1)’s command to arrest aliens immediately “when . . . released.”
Especially hard to swallow is respondents’ insistence that for an alien to be subject to mandatory detention under §1226(c), the alien must be arrested on the day he walks out of jail (though respondents allow that it need not be at the jailhouse door—the “parking lot” or “bus stop” would do). Tr. of Oral Arg. 44. “Assessing the situation in realistic and practical terms, it is inevitable that” respondents’ unsparing deadline will often be missed for reasons beyond the Federal Government’s control. Montalvo-Murillo, 495 U. S., at 720. Cf. Regions Hospital v. Shalala, 522 U. S. 448, 459, n. 3 (1998) (“The Secretary’s failure to meet the deadline, a not uncommon occurrence when heavy loads are thrust on administrators, does not mean that [she] lacked power to act beyond it”). To give just one example, state and local officials sometimes rebuff the Government’s request that they give notice when a criminal alien will be released. Indeed, over a span of less than three years (from January 2014 to September 2016), the Government recorded “a total of 21,205 declined [requests] in 567 counties in 48 states including the District of Columbia.” ICE, Fiscal Year 2016 ICE Enf. and Removal Operations Rep. 9. Nor was such local resistance unheard of when Congress enacted the language of §1226(c) in 1996. See S. Rep. No. 104–48, p. 28 (1995). Under these circumstances, it is hard to believe that Congress made the Secretary’s mandatory-detention authority vanish at the stroke of midnight after an alien’s release.
According to respondents, the Government’s reading of §1226(c) flouts the interpretive canon against surplusage—the idea that “every word and every provision is to be given effect [and that n]one should needlessly be given an interpretation that causes it to duplicate another provision or to have no consequence.” Scalia, Reading Law, at 174. See Kungys v. United States, 485 U. S. 759, 778 (1988) (plurality opinion of Scalia, J.) (citing the “cardinal rule of statutory interpretation that no provision should be construed to be entirely redundant”). Respondents’ surplusage argument has two focal points.
First, respondents claim that if they face mandatory detention even though they were arrested well after their release, then “when . . . released” adds nothing to paragraph (1). In fact, however, it still has work to do. For one thing, it clarifies when the duty to arrest is triggered: upon release from criminal custody, not before such release or after the completion of noncustodial portions of a criminal sentence (such as a term of “parole, supervised release, or probation,” as the paragraph goes on to emphasize). Thus, paragraph (1) does not permit the Secretary to cut short an alien’s state prison sentence in order to usher him more easily right into immigration detention—much as another provision prevents officials from actually removing an alien from the country “until the alien is released from imprisonment.” 8 U. S. C. §1231(a)(4)(A). And from the other end, as paragraph (1)’s language makes clear, the Secretary need not wait for the sentencing court’s supervision over the alien to expire.
To begin with the latter point: Under the Court of Appeals’ reading, the mandatory-detention scheme would be gentler on terrorists than it is on garden-variety offenders. To see why, recall first that subparagraphs (A)–(C) cover aliens who are inadmissible or deportable based on the commission of certain criminal offenses, and there is no dispute that the statute authorizes their mandatory detention when they are released from criminal custody. And the crimes covered by these subparagraphs include, for example, any drug offense by an adult punishable by more than one year of imprisonment, see §§1182(a)(2), 1226(c)(1)(A), as well as a variety of tax offenses, see §§1226(c)(1)(B), 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii); Kawashima v. Holder, 565 U. S. 478 (2012). But notice that aliens who fall within subparagraph (D), by contrast, may never have been arrested on criminal charges—which according to the court below would exempt them from mandatory detention. Yet this subparagraph covers the very sort of aliens for which Congress was most likely to have wanted to require mandatory detention—including those who are representatives of a terrorist group and those whom the Government has reasonable grounds to believe are likely to engage in terrorist activities. See §§1182(a)(3)(B)(i)(III), (IV), 1226(c)(1)(D). 7 Thus, by the Court of Appeals’ logic, Congress chose to spare terrorist aliens from the rigors of mandatory detention—a mercy withheld from almost all drug offenders and tax cheats. See Brief for National Immigrant Justice Center as Amicus Curiae 7–8. That result would be incongruous.
Finally, respondents perch their reading of §1226(c)—unsteadily, as it turns out—on the canon of constitutional avoidance. This canon provides that “[w]hen ‘a serious doubt’ is raised about the constitutionality of an act of Congress, ‘. . . this Court will first ascertain whether a construction of the statute is fairly possible by which the question may be avoided.’ ” Jennings, 583 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 12) (quoting Crowell v. Benson, 285 U. S. 22, 62 (1932)).
Respondents say we should be uneasy about endorsing any reading of §1226(c) that would mandate arrest and detention years after aliens’ release from criminal cus-tody—when many aliens will have developed strong ties to the country and a good chance of being allowed to stay if given a hearing. At that point, respondents argue, mandatory detention may be insufficiently linked to public benefits like protecting others against crime and ensuring that aliens will appear at their removal proceedings. In respondents’ view, detention in that scenario would raise constitutional doubts under Zadvydas v. Davis, 533 U. S. 678 (2001), which held that detention violates due process absent “adequate procedural protections” or “special justification[s]” sufficient to outweigh one’s “ ‘constitutionally protected interest in avoiding physical restraint,’ ” id., at 690 (quoting Kansas v. Hendricks, 521 U. S. 346, 356 (1997)). Thus, respondents urge, we should adopt a reading of §1226(c)—their reading—that avoids this result.
The trouble with this argument is that constitutional avoidance “ ‘comes into play only when, after the application of ordinary textual analysis, the statute is found to be susceptible of more than one construction.’ ” Jennings, 583 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 12). The canon “has no application” absent “ambiguity.” Warger v. Shauers, 574 U. S. 40, 50 (2014) (internal quotation marks omitted). See also Zadvydas, 533 U. S., at 696 (“Despite this constitutional problem, if Congress has made its intent in the statute clear, we must give effect to that intent” (internal quotation marks omitted)). Here the text of §1226 cuts clearly against respondents’ position, see Part III, supra, making constitutional avoidance irrelevant.
1 This provision states:“(a) Arrest, detention, and release“On a warrant issued by the Attorney General, an alien may be arrested and detained pending a decision on whether the alien is to be removed from the United States. Except as provided in subsection (c) and pending such decision, the Attorney General—“(1) may continue to detain the arrested alien; and“(2) may release the alien on—“(A) bond of at least $1,500 with security approved by, and containing conditions prescribed by, the Attorney General; or“(B) conditional parole; but“(3) may not provide the alien with work authorization (including an ‘employment authorized’ endorsement or other appropriate work permit), unless the alien is lawfully admitted for permanent residence or otherwise would (without regard to removal proceedings) be provided such authorization.”
2 We replace “Attorney General” with “Secretary” because Congress has empowered the Secretary to enforce the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U. S. C. §1101 et seq., though the Attorney General retains the authority to administer removal proceedings and decide relevant questions of law. See, e.g., 6 U. S. C. §§202(3), 251, 271(b), 542 note, 557; 8 U. S. C. §§1103(a)(1) and (g), 1551 note.
3 The full text of §1226(c) is set out infra, at 10–11.
4 Nevertheless, such cases appear to be rare. See Straker v. Jones, 986 F. Supp. 2d 345, 357, n. 8 (SDNY 2013) (citing Gomez v. Napolitano, 2012 U. S. App. LEXIS 27076 (CA2, June 5, 2012)). But see Alafyouny v. Chertoff, 2006 WL 1581959, *3, *24 (ND Tex., May 19, 2006) (an alien was subject to mandatory detention based on a determination that the alien had solicited funds for a terrorist group).
5 For this reason, it is irrelevant that (as the dissent notes, see post, at 8) paragraph (2) applies to aliens described in “paragraph (1)” and not “subparagraphs (A)–(D).” These two phrases denote the same category, so nothing can be gleaned from Congress’s choice of one over the other.
6 The dissent asks why Congress would have felt the need to provide for a delay if it thought that either way, the Secretary would get to deny a hearing to aliens arrested well after release. Post, at 10; see also post, at 13–14. The answer is that Congress does not draft legislation in the expectation that the Executive will blow through the deadlines it sets. That is why Congress specifies any deadlines for executive duties at all; and here it explains why Congress furthermore provided that the deadline it set for this particular duty (to arrest criminal aliens upon their release) would not take effect right away.In fact, if the dissent’s argument from the transition rules were sound—i.e., if textual evidence that Congress expects the Executive to meet a deadline (once it officially takes effect) were proof that Congress wanted the deadline enforced by courts—then every case involving an express statutory deadline would be one in which Congress intended for courts to enforce the deadline. But this would include, by definition, all of the loss-of-authority cases we discussed above, see Part III–B–2, supra—a long line of precedent that the dissent does not question.
7 In Alafyouny, 2006 WL 1581959, for example, an alien subject to mandatory detention had not been charged with any crime. Rather, in a hearing to consider his application for adjustment of status, an immigration judge found that the alien had engaged in terrorism-related activity identified in §1182(a)(3)(B)(iv)(IV)(cc), which qualified him for mandatory detention under §1226(c)(1)(D). Id., at *3, *24.
8 See n. 7, supra. Detainees who deny that they satisfy any §1226(c) predicate may challenge their mandatory detention in a Joseph hearing. See Matter of Joseph, 22 I. & N. Dec. 799 (BIA 1999). See also Jennings v. Rodriguez, 583 U. S. ___, ___, n. 1 (2018) (slip op., at 5, n. 1).
First, §1252(b)(9) bars judicial review of “all questions of law and fact, including interpretation and application of constitutional and statutory provisions, arising from any action taken or proceeding brought to remove an alien from the United States,” except for review of “a final order” or other circumstances not present here. These cases raise questions of law or fact arising from removal proceedings—“[d]etention is necessarily a part of [the] deportation procedure” that culminates in the removal of the alien, Carlson v. Landon, 342 U. S. 524, 538 (1952)—and they do not come to us on review of final orders of removal. Thus, for the reasons I set forth in Jennings, supra, at ___–___ (slip op., at 1–11), no court has jurisdiction over these class actions.
Second, §1226(e) provides that “[n]o court may set aside any action or decision by the [Secretary] under this section regarding the detention or release of any alien or the grant, revocation, or denial of bond or parole.” (Emphasis added.) This provision “unequivocally deprives federal courts of jurisdiction to set aside ‘any action or decision’ by the [Secretary]” regarding detention, discretionary or otherwise. Demore v. Kim, 538 U. S. 510, 533 (2003) (O’Connor, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment); see Jennings, supra, at ___, n. 6 (slip op., at 11, n. 6). The Court once again reads this language as permitting judicial review for challenges to the “statutory framework as a whole.” Ante, at 7 (internal quotation marks omitted). But the text of the statute contains no such exception. Accordingly, I continue to think that no court has jurisdiction over these kinds of actions.
Third, §1252(f)(1) deprives district courts of “jurisdiction or authority to enjoin or restrain the operation of [§§1221–1232] other than with respect to the application of such provisions to an individual alien against whom proceedings under [§§1221–1232] have been initiated.” The text of §1252(f)(1) explicitly prohibits the classwide injunctive relief ordered by the Northern District of California in this instance, given that the class includes future, yet-to-be detained aliens against whom proceedings have not been initiated. See Reno v. American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Comm., 525 U. S. 471, 481 (1999) (explaining that §1252(f)(1) “prohibits federal courts from granting classwide injunctive relief against the operation of §§1221–1231”). The District Court relied on Rodriguez v. Hayes, 591 F. 3d 1105 (CA9 2010), which held that this provision does not affect authority to enjoin alleged violations of the specified statutes because those claims do not “seek to enjoin the operation of the immigration detention statutes, but to enjoin conduct . . . not authorized by the statutes.” Id., at 1120. This reasoning is circular and unpersuasive. Many claims seeking to enjoin or restrain the operation of the relevant statutes will allege that the Executive’s action does not comply with the statutory grant of authority, but the text clearly bars jurisdiction to enter an injunction “[r]egardless of the nature of the ac-tion or claim.” Although the Court avoids deciding whether §1252(f)(1) prevented the District Court’s injunction here, ante, at 8, I would hold that it did.
If the threat of rearrest and mandatory detention was too speculative to support jurisdiction, I disagree with the Court that our jurisdiction would be saved by our precedent on transitory claims. Ante, at 9–10. We have held that a court has Article III jurisdiction to certify a class action when the named plaintiffs’ claims have become moot if the claim is “so inherently transitory that the trial court will not have even enough time to rule on a motion for class certification before the proposed representative’s individual interest expires.” United States Parole Comm’n v. Geraghty, 445 U. S. 388, 399 (1980). The “inherently transitory” exception is measured from the time that the complaint is filed to the court’s ruling on the motion for class certification. See Genesis HealthCare Corp. v. Symczyk, 569 U. S. 66, 75–77 (2013). In other words, the named plaintiff’s standing in a class action need not exist throughout the lifecycle of the entire lawsuit. Here, Members of the Court have recognized that aliens are held, on average, for one year, and sometimes longer. See Jennings, 583 U. S., at ___ (Breyer, J., dissenting) (slip op., at 3) (noting that detention for aliens is “often lengthy,” sometimes lasting years). I am not persuaded that the plaintiffs’ claims are so “inherently transitory” as to preclude a ruling on class certification, especially since both District Courts certified the classes here within a year of the filing of the complaints. Cf. County of Riverside v. McLaughlin, 500 U. S. 44, 47, 52 (1991) (finding jurisdiction over a class action that challenged a county’s failure to provide “prompt” probable-cause hearings within the 48-hour window for arraignments, as required by state law).
This case is also not about whether Congress may mandate that the Executive Branch detain noncitizens during removal proceedings or before removal, as opposed to merely giving the Executive Branch discretion to detain. It is undisputed that Congress may mandate that the Executive Branch detain certain noncitizens during removal proceedings or before removal. Congress has in fact mandated detention of certain noncitizens who have been in criminal custody and who, upon their release, would pose a danger to the community or risk of flight. Asrelevant here, Congress has mandated detention “when” such noncitizens are “released” from criminal custody.8 U. S. C. §1226(c)(1).
The sole question before us is narrow: whether, under §1226, the Executive Branch’s mandatory duty to detain a particular noncitizen when the noncitizen is released from criminal custody remains mandatory if the Executive Branch fails to immediately detain the noncitizen when the noncitizen is released from criminal custody—for example, if the Executive Branch fails to immediately detain the noncitizen because of resource constraints or because the Executive Branch cannot immediately locate and apprehend the individual in question. No constitutional issue is presented. The issue before us is entirely statutory and requires our interpretation of the strict 1996 illegal-immigration law passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton. Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, 110Stat. 3009–546.
It would be odd, in my view, if the Act (1) mandated detention of particular noncitizens because the noncitizens posed such a serious risk of danger or flight that they must be detained during their removal proceedings, but (2) nonetheless allowed the noncitizens to remain free during their removal proceedings if the Executive Branch failed to immediately detain them upon their release from criminal custody. Not surprisingly, the Act does not require such an odd result. On the contrary, the relevant text of the Act is relatively straightforward, as the Court explains. Interpreting that text, the Court correctly holds that the Executive Branch’s detention of the particular noncitizens here remained mandatory even though the Executive Branch did not immediately detain them. I agree with the Court’s careful statutory analysis, and I join the Court’s opinion in full.
A provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U. S. C. §1226(c), focuses upon potentially deportable noncitizens who have committed certain offenses or have ties to terrorism. It requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to take those aliens into custody “when . . . released” from prison and to hold them without a bail hearing until Government authorities decide whether to deport them. The question is whether this provision limits the class of persons in the “no-bail-hearing” category to only those aliens who were taken into custody “when . . . released” from prison, or whether it also places in that “no-bail-hearing” category those aliens who were taken into custody years or decades after their release from prison.
The relevant statute, 8 U. S. C. §1226, is entitled “Apprehension and detention of aliens.” See Appendix A, infra. Its first subsection, subsection (a), is entitled “Arrest, detention, and release.” Subsection (a) sets forth the background rule. It gives the Secretary of Homeland Security (formerly the Attorney General) the authority to “arres[t] and detai[n]” an “alien . . . pending a decision on whether the alien is to be removed from the United States.” §1226(a). See ante, at 3, n. 2. It adds that the Secretary “may release the alien” on “bond” or “conditional parole.” §1226(a)(2). Federal regulations provide that a person detained under this subsection must receive a bail hearing. 8 CFR §§236.1(d)(1), 1236.1(d)(1) (2018). With respect to release, however, subsection (a) adds the words “[e]xcept as provided in subsection (c).” 8 U. S. C. §1226(a).
First, “Congress often drafts statutes with hierarchical schemes—section, subsection, paragraph, and on down the line.” NLRB v. SW General, Inc., 580 U. S. ___, ___ (2017) (slip op., at 9). Congress employed that structure “to make precise cross-references” throughout the immigration code. Ibid. As relevant here, in a different detention provision enacted alongside the provision at issue here, Congress said that the Government “may release the alien only if the alien is an alien described in subparagraph (A)(ii) or (A)(iii).” Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), §303(b)(3)(B), 110Stat. 3009–587. Yet Congress did not make such a precise cross-reference in paragraph (2): It did not refer to “an alien described in subparagraphs (A)–(D) of paragraph (1),” as it could have—and would have—done had it intended the majority’s narrow interpretation. Instead, it referred to aliens “described” in the entirety of paragraph (1).
Second, consider the structural similarity between subsections (a) and (c). See Appendix A, infra. The first sentence of subsection (a) sets forth a detention rule: An “alien may be arrested and detained” pending a decision on the alien’s removal. 8 U. S. C. §1226(a). And the second sentence sets forth a release rule that allows for release on bond and parole. Ibid. Subsection (c) has a parallel structure. The first sentence (namely, paragraph (1)) says that the Secretary must “take into custody” a subset of those aliens “when the alien is released” from criminal custody. §1226(c)(1). And the second sentence (namely, paragraph (2)) sets forth the rule that “an alien described in paragraph (1)” generally may not be released. §1226(c)(2).
Thus, the release rule in each subsection (the second sentence) applies only if the Secretary complies with the detention rule in that subsection (the first sentence). In light of “the parallel structures of these provisions,” it would “flou[t] the text” to find that an alien is subject to (c)’s release rule, which forbids release, without also finding that the alien was detained in accordance with (c)’s detention rule, which requires the alien to be detained “when . . . released.” Chan v. Korean Air Lines, Ltd., 490 U. S. 122, 132 (1989).
Third, Congress’ enactment of a special “transition” statute strengthens the point. When Congress enacted subsection (c), it recognized that there might be “insufficient detention space” and “personnel” to carry out subsection (c)’s requirements. IIRIRA, §303(b)(2), 110Stat. 3009–586. It therefore authorized the Government to delay implementation of subsection (c)—initially for one year, then for a second year. Ibid.
The transition statute also supports this conclusion in another respect: It demonstrates that Congress anticipated that subsection (c) would apply only to aliens “released” from state or federal prison. As noted, clauses A, B, C, and D in paragraph (1) cover some aliens who have never been in criminal custody. Supra, at 4. Even the majority acknowledges that it would be bizarre if these aliens could be detained without a bail hearing. Ante, at 23. The transition statute confirms as much: It indicates that “the provisions of [subsection (c)] shall apply to individuals released after” the transition period concludes. IIRIRA, §303(b)(2), 110Stat. 3009–586 (emphasis added). From this it follows that Congress saw paragraph (2) as forbidding bail hearings only for aliens who have been “released.” That, however, can be true only if the “when . . . released” provision limits the class of aliens subject to paragraph (2)’s “no-bail-hearing” requirement. The majority’s contrary reading, under which paragraph (2) applies “regardless of . . . whether the alien was released from criminal custody,” ante, at 25, conflicts with how Congress itself described the scope of subsection (c) when it enacted the statute.
Even if statutory text and structure were not enough to resolve these cases, the Government’s reading would fail for another reason. A well-established canon of statutory interpretation provides that, “if fairly possible,” a statute must be construed “so as to avoid not only the conclusion that it is unconstitutional but also grave doubts upon that score.” United States v. Jin Fuey Moy, 241 U. S. 394, 401 (1916). See Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. v. Florida Gulf Coast Building & Constr. Trades Council, 485 U. S. 568, 575 (1988) (using word “serious” instead of “grave”). The Government’s reading of the statute, which the majority adopts, construes the statute in a way that creates serious constitutional problems. That reading would give the Secretary authority to arrest and detain aliens years after they have committed a minor crime and then hold them without a bail hearing for months or years. This possibility is not simply theoretical. See Appendix B, infra.
As an initial matter, the phrase “when the alien is released” imposes an enforceable statutory deadline. I cannot agree with Justice Alito, who writes for a plurality of the Court on this point, that our cases holding certain statutory deadlines unenforceable are applicable here. Ante, at 17. See, e.g., Barnhart v. Peabody Coal Co., 537 U. S. 149, 152 (2003) (holding that the Government’s untimeliness did not bar it from taking action beyond the statutory deadline); United States v. Montalvo-Murillo, 495 U. S. 711, 713–714 (1990) (holding that a provision requiring a detention hearing to “ ‘be held immediately’ ” did not bar detention in the event of a late hearing); Brock v. Pierce County, 476 U. S. 253, 266 (1986) (holding that the Government’s failure to observe a 120-day statutory deadline did not deprive it of authority under the statute).
I disagree with the plurality on this point because our case law makes clear that a statutory deadline against the Government must be enforced at least in contexts where “other part[s]” of the relevant statutes indicate that the time limit must be enforced, Montalvo-Murillo, supra, at 717; see also Barnhart, supra, at 161, 163; Dolan v. United States, 560 U. S. 605, 613 (2010); where the statute “ ‘specif[ies] a consequence for noncompliance’ ” with the time limit, Barnhart, supra, at 159 (quoting United States v. James Daniel Good Real Property, 510 U. S. 43, 63 (1993)); or where the harms caused by the Government’s delay are likely to be serious, see Dolan, supra, at 615–616; Montalvo-Murillo, supra, at 719–720.
Here, the special transition statute Congress enacted alongside subsection (c) makes clear that Congress expected that the mandate that an alien be detained “when . . . released” would be enforceable. Congress neither wished for nor expected the Secretary to detain aliens more than a year after their release from criminal custody. IIRIRA, §303(b)(2), 110Stat. 3009–586. Why else would Congress have enacted a statute permitting the Government, due to “insufficient detention space and Immigration and Naturalization Service personnel,” to delay implementation of the entirety of subsection (c) for one year? Ibid. As I have said, had Congress read the phrase “when the alien is released” as the plurality now reads it, the Government could have delayed implementation for as long as it liked without the need for any transition statute. Supra, at 10. The transition statute demonstrates that Congress viewed the phrase “when the alien is released” as imposing a deadline. Based on the transition statute, the Secretary may not delay detention under subsection (c) for longer than one year.
Mindful of “the greater immigration-related expertise of the Executive Branch” and “the serious administrative needs and concerns inherent in the necessarily extensive [Government] efforts to enforce this complex statute,” I would interpret the word “when” in the same manner as we interpreted other parts of this statute in Zadvydas v. Davis, 533 U. S. 678, 700 (2001). The words “when the alien is released” require the Secretary to detain aliens under subsection (c) within a reasonable time after their release from criminal custody—presumptively no more than six months. If the Secretary does not do so, she must grant a bail hearing. This presumptive 6-month limit is consistent with how long the Government can detain certain aliens while they are awaiting removal from the country. Id., at 682, 701 (interpreting a different provision, §1231(a)(6)). To insist upon similar treatment in this context would give the Government sufficient time to detain aliens following their release from local, state, or federal criminal custody. It would also ensure that the Government does not fall outside the 1-year maximum dictated by the transition statute. See supra, at 10, 14.
The following citations support the claims made supra, at 4, regarding the breadth of the Government’s reading of the statute. I do not intend to suggest that these citations provide a complete description of the many aliens who are detained without a bail hearing under 8 U. S. C. §1226(c). See Jennings v. Rodriguez, 583 U. S. ___, ___ (2018) (Breyer, J., dissenting) (slip op., at 3) (indicating that thousands of aliens are eligible to be detained under subsection (c), that many are held for six months or longer, and that “[n]early 40% of those who have served criminal sentences receive relief from removal”); Preap v. Johnson, 831 F. 3d 1193, 1197 (CA9 2016) (noting that one respondent was detained 11 years after his release from prison); Brief for Advancement Project et al. as Amici Curiae 12 (presenting data from a recent lawsuit in Massachusetts indicating that more than one in five aliens detained under subsection (c) were taken into custody more than five years after their release from prison); §1226(c)(1)(A) (referencing §1182(a)(2), which includes aliens who have committed federal or state controlled substance offenses for which the maximum term of imprisonment exceeds one year); §1226(c)(1)(C) (referencing §1227(a)(2)(A)(i), which applies to aliens convicted of certain crimes “involving moral turpitude”); Hashish v. Gonzales, 442 F. 3d 572, 576 (CA7 2006) (illegally downloading music is a crime of “moral turpitude”); Michel v. INS, 206 F. 3d 253, 261 (CA2 2000) (possessing stolen bus transfers is a crime of “moral turpitude”); §1226(c)(1)(D) (referencing §1182(a)(3)(B), which covers the “spouse or child” of certain aliens engaged in terrorist activity); §1229b (identifying the requirements for obtaining cancellation of removal).